I mentioned when I posted Angry Young Poet there was a second poem I shared from my youth with my students. I softened this one a bit, as it had an angry voice. I know this version sounds pretty harsh, but it is gentler. A recent conversation reminded me how I marginalize voices of those already marginalized. A professor commented he was told by an affluent person that another less fortunate person was a non-entity and the worth of human was measured in material worth. I know this might be isolated, but it troubling and I was reminded of this poem.
Captains of Society
Shallow, superficial, arrogant
Single ambition
Greatness in the eyes of others
Only those with resources can apply
The rest
Forgotten
Pay a high price, but…
It’s their fault
They own their misery.
A cheque to charity
Assuages my conscience
What about the despair?
Don’t care
I claim I do
Donations in good faith, but
It’s a tax receipt
I can really claim, but…
Done on the backs of others
Get the staff to donate time
Not mine.
Increase taxes
Not mine!
No way!
It’s wrong!
Tax others!
What is work?
I create jobs
It’s a spectator sport
This work, which
I manage from afar.
Drive luxury wheels
Shout
Curse
What’s the hold up?
Who’s blocking my way?
The ‘75 Ford station wagon
Engine shot
Dead broke!
Is it their home?
Throw a party
Drink
Eat
Be merry
No concern for homeless
A romantic notion this ‘hobo jungle’
Not my world
What’s wrong?
It’s not my fault
I gave at the office.
After all.
Throw money at problems
It might help
Don’t
Stop, see, care
If it really helps
Denying, refusing, unfeeling
I pay for a clear conscience
After all.
The misery
In surround sound…
Is out of sight;
Out of mind
ivonprefontaine
Mitt Romney does poetry?
Maybe?
just seems like something he could have written.
I had to think about it for a few minutes. I wrote the original poem in about 1969 and the theme remained consistent. Had I written it today, the answer might be yes, but in 1969 I was seeing the beginnings of a world I did not particularly care for and it has gotten progressively worse.
Thank you for the reflective and thought provoking comments and time to consider it in full context, It is appreciated and good for the heart of an old rebel.
Ivon