poems about society

Civility

Corrosive obsession with
Maximizing profits.
Feverishly channeling
Rivers of money to
Investors –
Private equity firms –
Executive bonuses,
Rather than
Supporting employees
Who will then have money
To spend and help
The economy prosper,
Or provide value to
Consumers who will be
More loyal and make the
Company more successful.
Scream communism when
The words fairness or
Sharing are mentioned,
Though they aren’t
Political terms,
Just basic civility,
Treating hard-working
People with respect and
Giving customers an
Honest deal.

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Allegiance

Coarse mob
Defiantly protesting
A government that
Provides for that right.
Misdirected anger,
Misplaced allegiance to
Abstract concepts
Rooted in fear – mistrust,
Generational wounds.
Unchecked rugged individualism,
Freedom to antagonize –
Contorted civil disobedience,
Clutching discredited ideas
Perpetuating imparity.

Hinder

Insidious double-talk,
Confuse the rubes,
Tell them one thing,
Deliver another.

Mal-intentioned misdirection,
Disseminate falsehoods,
Chuckle heartily when
They fall for it.

Take advantage of access to
Information and power,
Surreptitiously shift
The conversation.

Continually erode
Vital pillars,
Remorselessly hinder
Progress.

The Center of Town

The hard-working
Son of a sharecropper,
He leaves the sweltering
Heat of his small shack
And walks down a
Dirt road toward the
Center of town,
Where all the
Tidy buildings beckon
And well-appointed citizens
Stroll through clean,
Tree-lined streets,
Nodding to each other,
And where he’s never
Felt quite welcome.
He remembers the stories
His parents told him
When he was a child.

Confluence

“Everything will be okay,”
She reassured me, but
I knew that this time was
Different, I had seen it
In history books, where
Things start to unravel
Due to some strange
Confluence of events and
The people who cause them;
Unbalanced, undesirable,
Leading in an entirely
Alarming direction.

That Time

Remember that time when you
Tried to start that thing that drove
You crazy and made you doubt
Who you really are and caused
You to flee into a situation where
You had even less control and
Wished you could return to the
Time when you simply were
Fearful of what you didn’t know?

Good Girl

Bright, shiny,
Absolutely beautiful.
Bursting with excitement,
Potential, optimism, intelligence.

A whole life of
Unlimited possibilities awaits,
Places to go, people to meet,
Dreams to be made real.

Not so fast,
We do things a certain way
In this family,
In this town.

Clamp on rusty shackles of
Societal expectations, constrictions.
Know your place,
Be a good girl.

Reality

He’s a family man,
Working hard to provide
For his beloved wife and
Children, getting up each
Morning hoping this will
Be the day that his boss
Stops shouting at him or
Making wisecracks at his
Expense, or cutting his hours.

During the meager standing-up
Break that passes for lunch
At his workplace,
He overhears someone talking
About social justice,
Which makes his blood boil.
I fight for what’s mine,
I don’t rely on anybody else,
Hard work leads to success.

Lost in the outburst are
The many hours he’s
Worked off the clock,
The complete lack of flexibility
And benefits, the absence of
Opportunities to move up,
But none of that matters,
He fights for his earnest
Misapprehension of reality.

Costs

It
Costs
What
It
Costs.

Public education. Universal health care. Help for the vulnerable. Etc.