poems about justice

Learning

Send me to a school where
Mold grows and minds don’t because
There aren’t enough teachers to
Handle teeming classes of souls
Who yearn to grow but are constantly
Written off as incorrigible,
Unworthy statistics.

Move the school out of my neighborhood
When its heat doesn’t work and
Textbooks harken back to the days of
New wave, old wave limiting the chances
I’ll ever get out. Tell me I can’t learn because
I’m broken, not broke. Tell my mother
Her three jobs aren’t enough to keep
Me learning.

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Manifest Mendacity

Interviewed on
Local news show.
Well-groomed,
Comfortable in
Traditional suit
And haircut,
Mechanically spouting
Fallacious assertions.
Limited government,
No new taxes,
Welfare queens,
Weak tropes expounded
As gospel.
Flood of unfounded
Beliefs further tearing at
Flimsy safety net.
Lies confidently articulated,
Straight face,
Manifest mendacity.

Worth Less

Deemed expendable,
Working ten-hour days,
Six days a week,
Sweltering room,
No ventilation,
Making something he’ll
Never be able to afford,
For someone far away
Who will never know
His name,
His dreams,
His hopes,
The toll this all takes
On his body.
A small human being,
Worth less than
A pair of shoes.

The 99 Percent

Wake up much too early
Each day, get everyone up,
Make bag lunches,
Kids ready themselves for
Another public school day.
Coffee, bagel, shower,
Drive off to a place
She’d rather not be,
If she had a choice.
Smiles at everyone,
Cheeriness born of necessity,
Paycheck in hand
Every two weeks,
Choices to be made,
Shrinking pay requiring stretching,
Making do with less,
Another day on the treadmill.
Exhausted,
Arrive at home, prepare dinner,
Help kids with homework.
Alarm clock rings again.
In a serene wood-paneled office,
He moves toward a large window,
Blankly looks at the
Scurrying ants.

Strife

Ominous drums in the distance,
Perpetual bellicosity,
Continuous heightened alert,
Duck and cover
Regardless of actual threat.

Arouse hysteria,
Deflect attention from
Vast resources coursing
Into deep complex pockets,
Conflate with patriotism.

Countless homes disintegrating,
Children lacking sustenance,
Families crumpling to their knees.
Another extravagant instrument of
Strife rolls off an assembly line.

Whom We Serve

Handsome young couple,
Loving, caring, thoughtful,
Tax-paying citizens,
Doting parents,
Well-educated,
Productive members of
The community,
Walk into a universe
Steeped in dogma,
Fear, anxiety, unease.
Suspicious glances presage
Overt taunts, open derision.
How dare you show
Yourselves in a decent
Place like this,
Take your perversion
Somewhere else,
This is a righteous
Family establishment,
We choose whom we serve.

Philanthropy

Fawning fanfare,
Large endowment to
An institution
Solely benefiting
Those with access,
Dubious magnanimity.
Qualified selective giving,
Hearty pat on the back,
Enlarging a castle
Only a few can enter,
Exclusive membership club.
Generosity preserving
De facto demarcations,
Philanthropy of inequality.

Diatribe

Eyes bereft of
All feeling,
Standing woodenly at a podium
Denigrating human beings —
Blithe devaluation —
They choose to live in squalor,
Culture of poverty.
Same old story,
Proposing to replace
Meager,
Subsistence assistance with
Nothing.
Rail against compassion —
Programs haven’t worked,
Complete failure,
Spotty results at best.
No new ideas,
The same heartless diatribe,
Let them fend for themselves.

Live to Prey

Projecting hatreds,
Insecurities onto others,
Twisting words into
Rapiers,
Eviscerating the
Most vulnerable,
Stalking the defenseless,
Grinding their faces
Into the dirt,
A self-satisfied smile
Oozing self-righteousness,
Decency perverted.
Band-aid on a
Festering wound,
Live to prey
Another day.