He sleeps well
At night knowing
That rivers of
Money are flowing
Into his already
Bloated coffers
While his workers
Struggle with
Whether they should
Pay the electric bill
Or put food on
The table.
They’ll fight
Tooth and nail
To give tax breaks
To their cronies –
The one percent –
Who already own
Most of everything
But still demand more.
They won’t do a
Thing to help
The real people
Doing the actual work,
Deluge up economics.
Successive
Waves
Have all
Encountered
The same
Alarmed cries
About how
The beach
Will never
Be the same.
Well-scrubbed children,
In the latest fashions,
Play without a care,
Eagerly returning to
Their desks to learn about
All the wonders the
World offers them.
Children in hand-me-downs
Selected from a pile
In the corner of the room,
Run around in a bare
Playground, going back
Inside to share
Outdated books.
Keep quiet.
Don’t you know that
We’ve always done it
This way and we don’t
Even whisper about any
Other options.
Change is not something
Contemplated often in
These circles, if ever,
Just the same old
Boring perpetuation of
Everything that came before,
Without any thought to
Improving any of it,
The same results
Choking off all hope.
Letting people starve
Because they weren’t
At the right place
At the right time,
Or didn’t have the
Same opportunities,
A helping hand when
It was really needed
(But that is too often
Downplayed under the
Guise of self-reliance)
Or someone to offer them
A job or pave the way
For success in some form,
Or because they didn’t
Look or sound a certain way,
Or weren’t accepted as
Part of the group.
Glorified dualist vision,
Good versus evil,
Us against them,
Our people distinguished
By excellence and virtue,
Theirs huddle in
Laziness, barbarism.
Manichean perspective,
Forced tension between opposites,
Only one true good.
Disparage, separate, deprecate,
Dismiss with animosity.
Unworthy of consideration,
Cast aside unceremoniously.
An unspoken code
Keeps them all
In line, sporting
The same clothes —
Physical appearance —
Mores —
Social rules
That keep them
Stuck in a delusion
Of normalcy based
On fearful assumptions
About almost everything.
