Diseased ethos
Mired in past pain,
Searing hurt,
Unresolved damage.
Each day a
New opportunity to
Inflict torment
On others.
Rancid, rotting, wretched,
Averse to the light,
Unexamined life,
Misery manifest.
A warehouse, no windows,
Community center,
Local tire shop,
Family restaurant,
Palm trees, pavement,
Cars rushing past on
Four lanes, a mother tries
To cross the street with
An infant in a stroller,
Walls hiding structures,
Sun glaring off hard surfaces,
A few houses that used to
Be in good shape,
Now subdivided into apartments,
Or single rooms, bars on windows,
A block from the highway,
Many more from the mansions.
At what point
Did we lose it,
The ability to
Care for someone
We don’t know and have
No vested interest in?
How did we become
A people who aren’t
Moved by the suffering
Of a child or the
Struggles of a neighbor?
Benevolence supplanted by
Angry faces creased
With bitterness and
Disappointment.
Disgruntled brutes
Regretting unfulfilled lives,
Meaningless existences,
Spewing hatred
Instead of love.
His condition worsening,
He goes to the doctor and
Finds out about a
Drug that will help him
Feel better and that the
Pharmaceutical company has
Inflated the price of by
Five thousand percent for
His convenience and well-being.
Fed up with the system,
Joins some friends,
Protests against
Leviathans swallowing
Human beings whole.
His head
Driven into the ground
By polished boot,
Shielded enforcers of
Boardroom decisions.
One man, such a
Threat to
Deception perpetrated
By carnivorous
Overlords.
It’s appalling
That there are so many
Individuals in the richest
Country on Earth who
Couldn’t care less if
A human being is homeless,
A child doesn’t have
Enough to eat,
A person is crushed
By a giant corporation,
Or someone dies due to lack of
Critical health care;
This is not the type of
Thinking that makes
Nations great.
Prerequisites,
Restrictions,
Expectations,
Conformity.
Be like us,
Embrace our culture,
Don’t deviate from the norm,
Love all the same things,
Swear allegiance,
Adhere to the rules.
Destroy subversives,
Kill free thought,
Denigrate diversity,
Eradicate critical thinking.
A lovely stroll down
The primrose path to fascism.
They got their first
Flushing toilet
(They formerly had to
Lug buckets of water
To the bathroom)
Such an accomplishment,
Proof of progress enjoyed
By a large family
Surviving on the income
From their small business.
Many years later,
The whole neighborhood
Is developed.
They have paved roads,
Mostly reliable electricity,
But they still remember
When they lived almost
As squatters in a
Brick structure they built
With their own hands,
And the day they were
Recognized as people.
Another denied claim.
On the other end,
Someone doesn’t get
The treatment and medication
They desperately need.
Death is but an abstraction
In this office,
A mirage in the distance,
Not worth thinking about.
She goes home
At the end of the day,
Lives her life
With the money she’s made,
Telling herself it’s okay.
