poems about justice

Time and Again

As we’ve seen time and again,
Despots are not content with
Merely having all the
Riches and power.

It is not enough to
Control everything and
Everyone all the time
Without resistance.

Their inner neuroses
Demand further action,
Complete eradication of
Contemptible foes.

It’s always the same story:
Use language to denigrate and
Dehumanize their opponents,
Label them vermin.

Even regular, upstanding,
Normally kind people will
Eventually believe something
If it’s repeated enough.

A populace becomes convinced
That the enemy needs to be
Vanquished at any cost and
With extreme prejudice.

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Planet

Unsettlingly tall smokestacks
Belch sinister clouds of smoke
Into the pristine night sky.

A river runs red and sterile,
Oily, thick waters embellished
With mounds of ghastly froth.

Another giant fear mobile rolls off
The assembly line, roaring to life
On dirty petrochemicals.

A few well-fed magnates
Conveniently forget their grandchildren
Have to live on this planet too.

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.

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.

Loan

Things have been tough lately
For Jessica. Her hours got cut
At the fast food place and people
Aren’t hiring as many housekeepers
As they used to.

She’s talked to the landlord who
Won’t budge on the rent being due
Though she’s always payed on time.
She looks at her kids and holds them
When they say they’re hungry.

No pennies left to pinch, so she
Takes a breath and goes to one of those
Loan places with the lighthearted ads.
She walks through the door and,
Minutes later, has money in hand.

Sure, it was hard putting her car up
As collateral, but things will work out.
A week later she visits another loan
Place to pay the interest on the first,
She hopes things will turn around.

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.

Generally

He’s a generally caring guy,
Has even been known to do
Kind things for people whom
He doesn’t even know.

He’s got a steady moral compass,
Treats people the way
He would like to be treated,
And smiles at others on the street.

The veneer of civility starts
Cracking whenever something happens
That arouses latent passions,
Hidden presumptions.

Rapid metamorphosis
From mild and affable
To unfeeling, unforgiving,
His true self awakened.