poems about power

Anomaly

He sits rotting
In a cement cell,
It was predestined,
Really could not
Have turned out
Any other way
Given the brutality
He faced as a child,
Abject impoverishment,
Empty stomach,
Mind developing
Without the benefit of
Dignified schooling,
Moldy leaking ceilings,
Insurmountable odds
For anyone but the pompous
Blowhards who pontificate
About how anyone can
Pull himself
Out of misery without
Any help at all,
With an entire system
Rooting for his failure.
Sure, the occasional
Anomaly escapes the dungeon,
The one in one-hundred thousand,
Held up as an example
Of real opportunity,
But only an exception to the
Rigged rule,
The countless others ignored.

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Corridors

A closed door,
Only one key
Opens it but
Not the one she
Has, nor will
Ever have.
They have seen
To it that she
Only has access to
Certain corridors.

Folly

Another explosion
Rocks the building.
He huddles against
His mother’s side,
Feeling her rapid breaths
As she clutches him
Tightly to her.

Perpetual war has
Altered their expressions,
Etching permanent lines
Of fear and resignation
On formerly bright faces,
Innocence besmirched by
Diseased politicians.

She remembers her mother’s
Words, warning of unsound
Men unable to settle
Their differences
Resorting to fighting,
The eternal folly of
Insecure minds.

The Very Thing They’ve Done

Rabidly punishing
Other people for
The very thing
They’ve done and
Now rail against,
Hoping nobody
Will discover
Their trespasses.

Unexamination

Recalcitrant, obstinate, obdurate,
Contemptuous. Outwardly aggressive,
Inwardly cowering, the dull throb of
Insecurity never loosens its grip.
Never give, never cede. Resist.
Impose, defy, defile, destroy.

Conquer every inch of ground with
Merciless fury, vehement ardor.
Happiness beckons from the other side.
Nothing beats the intoxicating
Perfume of Pyrrhic victory, unhealed
Wounds, torpid unexamination.

Unremarkable

Normal, average,
Middling, standard,
Tolerable, humdrum,
Garden variety mediocrity.

Common tyrants
Trampling promise.
Dime a dozen
Sullen orthodoxy

Hit me with your
Unexceptional best,
Banal executioners,
Unremarkable.

Dystopia

It’s not so much
That it can’t happen
But rather that it
Is happening one
Small increment
At a time.

A right taken away
Here and there,
Presented as
Personal freedom,
Establishing servitude
And fealty.

The state as father,
Dictatorial minds
Subduing the masses,
A grim authoritarian
Dystopia regretted
After the fact.

Petulant

Imperious bluster,
Compulsion to dominate
Absolutely,
In all situations,
Under all conditions,
Unquestioned,
Unchallenged,
Under strict penalty.
All who dare trespass
Sanctified laws suffer
Disproportionate,
Unreasonable,
Consequences.
Guard the child residing
In the tower,
Unnurtured, unloved,
Petulant.

Unable

They’ve been called
Various things throughout
The eons, but their goals
Are always simple and
Surprisingly transparent.

Hoard everything they can,
Behave with extreme selfishness,
Resist change at every turn,
Denigrate the poor,
Exalt the rich.

Sulking cry babies,
Clutching greasy bottles,
Throwing unseemly tantrums
When they don’t
Get their way.

Unable to stop themselves,
They obliterate anyone and
Anything in their way.
Cold, callous, unfeeling;
Always the same story.