poems about power

Envy

There are stories
From long ago,
When his family lived
In the old country
And enjoyed vast
Land holdings,
Prosperous mills
That produced vast
Quantities of goods,
A lavish home on
A sprawling estate,
The envy of everyone,
All of it taken
From them in an instant,
A camera capturing
A moment in time,
Planting seeds of
Rage and discord,
Lashing out at the
Thieves that came
In the night and
Separated them from
Their supremacy.

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Impress

A small stream gurgled through
A verdant meadow under the
Content gaze of a cerulean sky.

A small boy played an improvised
Game alongside the rivulet,
Giggling with unselfconscious glee.

A small mind polluted the water to
Feed his desolation and impress his
Name upon another public building.

Improving Education

Starve the public schools
By refusing to
Pay taxes.

Declare that teachers
And schools are
Broken.

Under the guise
Of school choice,
Dismantle the system.

Pass bills so public money
Can be spent on private,
Religious, or home education.

Help private corporations
Get their slice of
The pie.

Only support education
That furthers your
Political goals.

Issue proclamations
About how you’re
Improving education.

Certain Things

Helen volunteers at a
Local food pantry that
Helps people with far less
Than she has, though she
Can remember when she too
Had very little of anything.

She’s mostly chipper as
She greets the people who
Come in to ask for some
Kind of help, although
She’s particularly acerbic
About this one woman.

It seems this lowlife drives
Up to the building in
A fancy car, which rubs Helen
The wrong way, after all,
Poor people aren’t allowed
To do certain things.

The woman with the car
Never says a word, nobody
Knows her story, where she
Came from, what she had to
Overcome to get to this point,
And why she asks for assistance.

Entrenched

Entrenched below
Consciousness, attitudes
Developed through rote
Reinforcement, leaving
No room for anything but
Dogma, a narrow window
No light penetrates,
A joyless trudge
Through life.

Insolent

The weight of
A thousand slights,
Cruel treatment,
Marginalization,
Weigh upon their
Tattered shoulders.
Any vestiges of
Dignity stamped out
Without the slightest
Shred of compassion,
Constant, crushing
Scorn and belittlement.
When they finally
Rise up, it’s pointed
Out how out of control
They are, a tornado
Calling a breeze insolent.

Enclave

A ponderously large vehicle
With darkened windows
Is ushered through
Heavy metal gates by
A dutiful sentry hired
To protect this particular
Walled enclave of wealth
Anchored in a sea of misfortune.
Pulling up to the outlandishly
Large mansion bursting with
All the amenities, the family
Gets out, walks past the guard
Posted outside, and disappears
Behind an ornate, heavy door
Built to keep the dregs out.

At Their Feet

They identify
Each other by their
Unfeeling eyes,
Rigid faces,
Infected smiles.
They form groups that
Attract others
Like them who are
Infirm inside and
Can only feel momentary
Relief by forcing
Their dogma on
Every living creature,
And it still is
Never enough to
Fill the hole,
Even when the entire
Planet is left
Gasping at their feet.

The Chosen

Hardness smothers
The landscape, muffling
Contemplation, eradicating
Nuance. The once unthinkable
Becomes the norm, toxicity
Pervasive, accepted,
Glorified in circles shrinking
To outsiders, the chosen
Throwing a party for themselves.