Uninspired people huddling
Together for collective
Reassurance, afraid to
Be anything other than
What the prevailing
Decree of the day
Happens to be,
Repeating all the
Same phrases, parroting
Approved sayings,
Purposelessly fitting in,
Melding into insipidness.
In the middle of
All the noise,
The fake kisses and
Fabricated mirth,
He asks himself
What it’s all about,
This superficial chaos
Punctuated by
Occasional meaning
Mostly ignored.
Don’t worry
Your pretty little head,
I will choose
What’s best for you,
I will guide you
Down this difficult road,
I will make all
The decisions about
Your body,
I will stop
At nothing to
Maintain my
Cowardly control.
The shanties spill over
The top of the hills
Until they meet
The gleaming luxury
High-rises housing
People who complain
About what an eyesore
It is to look out on
A bunch of poor people.
Carrying some trash bags
Out to the dumpster behind
The fast food restaurant,
She breathes the
Exhaust-infused air
And tries to avoid thinking
About the hundreds of
Meaningless chores
She’ll do during her shift
Before she goes to
Her other job
So her family can
Barely make ends meet.
On someone’s radio
At the drive-through,
A man talks about how it’s
Just an entry-level job.
She raises her hand
To answer a question,
A tattered book used
By many classes before
Her lays on her scarred
Desk in a room with
Peeling paint, torn floors,
Water-stained ceiling tiles.
Each key means something,
I try to make sense of it all,
Tapping randomly with
Little purpose beyond
Filling empty space.
It would be nice if at least
Part of it were meaningful,
But I know it’s not,
Nor do I expect it to be,
Unless something changes.
Supervising yet another
Renovation to her mansion,
She hears a worker
Utter some words in a
Foreign tongue and
Quickly admonishes him
To speak English, without
Any consideration for
A fellow human being’s
Plight or life experience,
Ignoring the glaring reality
That not everyone has parents
Who read and write in
Their own native language,
Let alone a new one,
But it’s much easier to
Chastise someone for not
Being able to speak one’s
Preferred patter than
It is to understand
Their story.
A group of people
Living in peace and harmony,
Supporting each other for
The common good.
One person emerges
Who craves a larger slice of
The pie for himself,
To fill a hole.
Balance interrupted,
Collaboration obstructed,
A test of their
Collective conscience.
