poems about society

Squeeze

They’re running out of ways
To squeeze more money
Out of them.

They’ve lowered their wages,
Raised gas prices,
Increased grocery costs.

Bank fees levied,
Cell phone service astronomical,
Cable TV costs prohibitive.

Health care obscene,
College tuition impossible,
Mortgages unaffordable.

There’s only so much juice
You can extract from a fruit
Before it withers.

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Crouch

Breathe in, for it will be a while
Before you can do it again.
Guard against marauding
Chimeras salivating for your soul.
Defensive posture, ready to
Strike at the smallest provocation
If need be (and there always is).
Don’t let them take anything from
You, crouch, crouch.

Self-Satisfied

It’s become some
Sort of sick joke,
Essential staples becoming
Cheaper, smaller,
A brazen ripoff.
In some opulent room in
Another vainglorious high-rise,
A group of self-satisfied
Men in tailored suits
Justify their existence by
Reducing the size of
Vital necessities.
They break for lunch,
Boasting about how they
Just scored some more
Money for the one percent,
Squeezing and discarding
Everyone else.

Minimum Balance

Deposit your hard-earned
Money with us,
We’ll take care of you.

By the way,
There’s a minimum balance
Required to keep your account open.

There’s a fee
If you dip below the balance
At any time, for any reason.

We should mention that
There’s a charge
For using your debit card.

Oh, there’s also a
Fee if you use the ATM
More than a couple of times.

Rest assured, we’ll make sure to wait
To deposit your funds to increase
The chance of overdrafts.

We love to charge you
To use your money
To enrich ourselves.

Thank you for
Banking with us,
We appreciate your business.

Value

A vocal minority
Works tirelessly
To eradicate
Compassion
Empathy
Kindness
Community
From the lexicon.

Decisions made
By militant
Misanthropes
Affecting
Millions
Who value
Caring for
Others.

Cash Out

The executives shake their heads
In disbelief, puzzling over
Why their profits aren’t
Higher, after all, they
Just raised prices in order
To dispatch more money
To the exalted shareholders who,
No matter how much they make,
Constantly bellyache
About short-term drops
In profits while slyly
Cajoling the stock to go up
So they can cash out before
It plummets disgracefully.
On the way home from work,
At the drive-through window,
A father of three receives
Less food for his family.

Sanctimonious Phonies

I’m so tired of
Sanctimonious phonies
Telling me how I should behave,
Or what is acceptable to think,
Impaired creatures
Injecting their disease
Into every crevice.
They don’t fool me
Like they do their minions,
Critical thinking swiftly
Dissolves their
Putrid falsehoods.

Democracy

One family
Has more wealth
Than the bottom
Forty percent of
The population.

Unconstrained upward
Siphoning of resources,
Majority left to
Fight over
Crumbs.

Democracy falters,
Privileged scavengers
Rip the
Carcass of a nation
Apart.

Renewal

After all she had been through
She still believed there was
Something else and found it
At the end of a particularly
Draining argument with
Someone who sapped all
Her energy and self-worth.
As she sat empty, despondent,
Alone, she felt it enter her;
A faint but welcome whisper,
Warmth, renewal.