poems about power

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.

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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.

It’s Easy

It’s easy to become
One of them,
Just function based on
Your hurts,
Extinguish your heart,
Close your mind,
Develop an immunity to truth,
Begin speaking and never stop,
No matter what anyone says,
Or how much it damages others,
Remain true to your
Ideals of exclusion and cruelty,
Make the world a worse place.

In the Back

Kindly sit in the back,
Know your place,
Things are as they should be,
Don’t rock the boat,
What are you fussing about?
Seen but not heard,
Shadow passing unperceived.
Struggles of the
Past revisited,
Wound reopened,
Hadn’t healed as much
As we all thought,
If at all.
Turn back the clock,
Reinstitute reviled institutions,
Things were much better
Back then,
Before the unrest.

Trespasses

I didn’t have
Anything to do
With that.
Self-serving exculpation
Boldly proclaimed,
Passionately articulated,
Heavy conscience
Compensating for known
Trespasses unadmitted.
Thoughtless behavior,
Scarcely cloaked enmity
Socially sanctioned,
Demean the dispossessed.
A greasy plate of ridicule
Served with a steaming
Side of animus.

Instead of Fact

Death of enlightenment,
Adherence to propaganda
Instead of fact,
Denigrating science
For dogma,
Lifeless eyes,
Barren consciences,
The emotionless cruelty of
Sociopaths.

Rightful

Advantages abounded
Wherever he went,
No extraordinary effort required,
Just had to be who
He was born as.
Then, one day,
A door was closed,
One had opened for someone else,
A woman no less.
A child denied a toy,
He became bitter, resentful,
Devoting reasonless
Energy to making sure
No one else like him
Would ever have to suffer,
Defer to lesser mortals,
A crusade to reclaim his
Rightful place at the table.