poems about brokenness

Unravel

They say they believe
In self-reliance.

They gladly accept government
Help when they need it.

They vote for candidates
That destroy the services they use.

They present themselves as caring and
Support marginalizing others.

They claim to be patriots
While destroying fellow citizens.

Their lack of internal soundness
Creates suffering for millions.

Without the slightest sense of irony,
They unravel the fabric of society.

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Wielding

Knocked around as a kid
He has a thing for weapons
And getting into it with others.

He’s always had to toughen up
Even when it seemed weird,
Never made him feel better.

Barely made it through high school,
His career path was set anyway,
Serving up some justice.

Wielding a club that gives him
Power he never had before,
Time to show his stuff.

Preposterous

There is no absolute,
Immutable law stating
That employers need to
Take advantage of their
Employees in order to
Make more money.

No one has to become
Wealthy from exploiting
People who have no other
Choice but to work for
A corporation that
Doesn’t care about them.

Owners could as easily
Choose to treat workers with
Dignity and respect,
Pay them a living wage,
Value their humanity,
But that would be preposterous.

Instinct

The harshest survive,
The most broken
Impose their will
On hapless bystanders,
Darwinian tragedy.

Wired with a capacity
For compassion and
Nuanced thought,
Unconsciously venerating
Brute force.

Clamoring horde of
Merciless boors
Feasting greedily,
Remorselessly,
Ignoble instinct.

Into Each Other’s Lives

They walked into each other’s lives
Without a single clue as to how to
Treat someone well. The only tool
They possessed was the ability to
Repeat what they had seen their
Respective parents do, poorly.

They proceeded to make each other
Occasionally joyful but mostly
Profoundly miserable. Such is the
Fate of those who live unconsciously,
Perpetuating the ordeal one reaction at a time,
Each new mistake following the last.

Children

It’ll hurt business
To help the poor,
To raise the minimum wage,
To remove the glass ceiling,
To regulate pollution.

Opposing humanity,
Communities of one.
Complete domination,
Uncontrolled predation
The only objective.

Imperious children
Bawling self-indulgently,
Pleading for pity,
Encircled by
Human wreckage.

Dedicated

He smiles gleefully
And declares that
Money is all that
Really matters.

He retires to
His palatial mansion
Where the private chef
Prepares him a meal.

He keeps busy,
Keenly aware that
Time is money and
Idleness is weakness.

Not a single
Day goes by when he
Doesn’t fend off
A perceived rival.

He fights to the end
To preserve what’s his,
A snarling beast guarding
A horde of gold.

Never a day
Dedicated to
Becoming a
Better person.

Before

Outside a warehouse building
In a tattered part of town,
They line up waiting for
Their bags of food,
Children in tow.

A year ago they would have
Laughed at the idea that
They’d be here with
All the people they
Used to ridicule.

Now they’re part of it,
But looking forward to the
Day when they can go back
To exactly who they
Were before.

Winners and Losers

Sitting in an air-conditioned office,
Pressed suit, expensive watch,
Latest eyeglass frames,
Perusing the Internet
On an advanced computer.

This morning he drove
From his plush apartment
On a swanky street
Where doormen greet residents
And keep the riffraff out.

Exiting the building for lunch,
He talks animatedly to
His cronies about
His latest theory on
Winners and losers.