Poets Against Inequality
He came only to bid them farewell
For theirs is a world where ends do not meet
She placed him on a cold shallow grave
As if implanting him back to the womb of mother earth
Not too far from her sight, no too deep to her reach
She laid him to rest along with her broken dreams
He came to a world so unkind
Where thick dividing lines are long drawn
He was not blessed with a silver spoon
He came to live a little and die.
Sofia Kioroglou, Greece
He that is greedy
Woe to those who get evil gain for their house
and put their nest on high.
You greedy narcissists, who will
deliver you from the hand of calamity?
Woe to those who have looted
for they will be looted.
He that is greedy troubles his own house
Didn't you know that pride comes before a fall?
Woe to those who are like wolves,
tearing their prey and building their palaces by injustice
Though they build their nest as high as the eagle's,
from there, their cupidity will bring them down.
Varghese Kuncheria, India
There is a Sore Evil
There is a sore evil soaring under the sun,
The evil of inequality among people and nations,
The profit of the earth is meant for all,
But the riches are kept by a handful.
The nature of man is naturally selfish,
And the poor are oppressed and reproached,
Lay aside all malice; let no guile be our guide,
Let love and brotherhood be part of our DNA!
To oppress the poor is to reproach humanity,
There is a gap that becomes wider day by day,
The gulf between the haves and the have nots.
Refuse to hide your wealth in tax havens.
Pay your taxes and make eternal savings,
That moths do not eat or perish by evil travail,
Honour all men, let not your heart be haughty
Have pity on the needy, and honour your Maker.
The struggle is the same; the UN has tried its best,
So are the nations but you can make it happen,
Neither slumber nor sleep till you sweep up,
Inequality away forever from our lovely planet.
The billions cannot add a day more to our lives,
But it can add many more days into other’s lives.
We all fade away like flowers that wither away,
Let the horn of righteousness take bud!
Kelly Kurt, USA
Egalitarianism
All men are not created equal
Short, tall
Weak, strong
Privileged, disadvantaged
Myriad differences
No two the same
These diversities should not preclude opportunity
Education, healthcare
A living wage, a voice
Freedom, hope
Respect
Sixty-two people –
Sixty-two people have more wealth
Than the poorest three and a half billion
Combined
Squandered, under taxed, untaxed
Wrested from the hyper-exploited
Undeserved
Disgusting
Evil
Unjustifiable
Indefensible
Unsustainable
Correctable
Agatha-Eliza Laposi, Romania
The Collector
These silent and bitter tears fall unseen
forming a net, keeping the world
in its tightness
burning, giving birth to storms..
Can you see the tears in a mother's eyes
when she's told she's not strong enough
to handle a 'real' job?
Can you see the tears in a father's eyes
when what he earns is never enough
to feed his hungry child?
Stranger.. But who are you to judge, to know
Their pain is like those dark clouds
that cradle the thunders over your head,
lifting up in the sultry air –
can also be told by the deep lines
carved in their harsh, hard-worked palms
or the cheeks scarred by their
incessant tears, which dried up in vain,
forever in a quest for hope, justice
fairness and equality?
Natchai Leenders, The Netherlands
The Answer is 62
I take pages from the Hitchhiker's Guide to Planet Earth:
The answer to life, universe and everything else is 62.
When 62 men own half of Earth's capital,
the situation's as bad as Vogon poetry.
All they want is trillions, all we want is Trillians.
They have the golden tickets and bars in Inequality Street.
It makes me depressed like Rickman's robot,
fo' got the news turned me into a paranoid android.
But hey, if we have no ideas, we won't be swatted like flies.
No! Don't forget to bring a towel, a vowel, a consonant
for constant contemplating of the cons of capitalism.
Average Arthur couldn't make a dent in the system
in which we're supposed to be model citizens: Ford Prefect.
Even Deep Thought can't answer this question:
Which Douglas will dominate? Michael or Adams?
The restaurant at the end of the world only serves fat cats.
"So long and thanks for the fish that'll never be multiplied.
And another thing.. demo-cracies, don't panic!
Money, the root of all evil? It's mostly harmless!"
Edward Kofi Louis, Ghana
Creation
With the Blue Planet made for mankind;
And Eve was made out of Adam,
For peace, unity and love!
To share and care for the earth,
But mankind grew up into another form!
Coming out with greed to collect everything to his or her side.
The ways of creation,
Beginning with equality;
Then came inequality!
With a division seen between the Rich and the Poor today.
The muse of inequality,
Of a big question in our minds today!
With the muse of life, leading to hatred and war in many ways;
Because, one gets more than the others on this earth.
Water!
Many are still thirsty on earth today,
Even though, the earth is full of water.
Money!
Many are still living with less than a Dollar a day;
Seen mostly in what is called "Third World Countries" today.
Food!
With starvation all over the world;
While Many go hungry and, Few control the Wealth of the Earth today.
Tapera Makadho, Zimbabwe
Border of Inequality
Not by croco and hippo
That ply the Limpopo
With tooth and maw
Nor by corsair and pirate
That lurk dene and wood
With knife and saw
They had eluded fang and venom
Of adder and of viper
They had survived cuff and baton
Of sarge and of sentry
They had dodged mugger and robber
Pestilence, and wave of the sea
They had crossed unscathed
To the city of Babylon
But they erred
They docked their ship
Far from the Port of Equality
They were asked to sing King Alpha's song
A song they could not recite
A song they coul
d not sing
They met their maker
In the flame and stone
That consumed them
Across the border of Inequality.
Kenneth Maswabi, Botswana
Mankind’s worst nightmare
“And I saw a beast coming out of the sea
It had ten horns and seven heads,
With ten crowns on its horns,
And on each head a blasphemous name”
(Revelation 13:1)
Inequality, the beast with many heads,
Seven heads representing seven continents,
Emerges from the sea of capitalism
Nourished by the ashes of communism
Drunk with blood from the cellars of colonialism
Roams free in an unrepentant world
Inequality, the beast with many horns,
Breathes fire against the poor
Wrecking havoc among the vulnerable
Sinking them deep into the dark abyss
Beyond the reaches of social safety nets
Inequality, the beast with many crowns,
Crowns created in the boardrooms of powerful nations
Polished in the competitive world of capitalism
Applauded by aristocrats
Embraced by power hungry jackals in the bushes of Africa
And by fire breathing dragons in the Far East jungles
Pitting the West against the Rest
The best against the worst
The rich against the poor.
Wilfred Mellers, USA
Unequally We Stand
Another victim of an unjust system falls
Protected by ivory towers they build high walls
Hands up without putting up any resistance
Another bright light choked out of existence
You can't run, you can't hide for they'll claim suicide
Your life is wasted for blood they've tasted
Hands up, face down, gunned down Mr. Brown
Streets run red as a people being bled
Ears now closed refusing to hear a word that is said
To the fabric of time humanity we are the tread
Children sacrificed to feed your insatiable greed
Bent until broken bleeds the token seed
Deceit spread like jam on wheat bread
Negative the narrative imposed on the world widespread
Gone the black lives matters truly many
Enslaved we prayed to money for leaders we don't have any
The great melting pot is not what we’ve got
Speak your mind and you will be shot
People being led by what they are told
Racist beliefs they want to have and to hold
Eyes wide shut while they are up to no good
Vandalized and terrorized your impoverished neighborhood.
__________
Author's note:
As a person of color I see inequality and bad treatment of people on a daily base, whether it is housing, education, jobs, legal affairs,.. Inequality and racism go hand in hand in America. I get so upset that I am a college educated man and yet as soon as I walk outside my door I am viewed as a villain by the system. There is nothing in America that is equal, but birth and death. Every day I see unequal treatment of people like me, by the police and the system. In my 53 years I have never experienced ‘equality’. You can tell it is a topic that I am very passionate about.
Aphrodite-Anastasia Menegaki, Greece
For the world’s one percent..
Look at me, look me in the eye
I’m the child with skin like coal
With a hungry vulture waiting behind me
And no one to stand beside me
Take my picture show it to your people
As they drink whisky, tell them we’re equal
Tell them I died for their diamonds
Look at me, look me in the eye
I’m the child that worked at that scrap yard
I’m the child that died on the rust of a wreck
Cheap hands, no shoes, no parents left
Somewhere far from you, a life theft
Look at me, look me in the eye,
I’m the child drown in the Aegean Sea
For your wars made me a refugee
Look at me, look me in the eye
I’m the cheap hands you asked,
The one behind your company’s mask
I’m the child that died out of hunger
I’m the mother who can’t hold her anger
I’m the father who works each day
I’m the soldier who’ll no longer obey
I’m all the lives you’ve stolen
I’m the people having no more to spend
For the world’s one percent.
Mallika Menon, India
Weeds of Inequality
I wish, if one day comes to..
Proscribe worldwide atrocity entirely
Omit the discrimination intensively
Encourage and execute unity in diversity
Thwart the gender pay gap effectually
Restore peace through non-violence vehemently
Yield a chance to stop many social bigotry
Admix balance between the well-off and poor substantially
Generate in us a well-tuned amity instead of enmity
Aggregate all religions under one caste and creed invariably
Inculcate each mind with meaning of equality
Nurture new generation with expertise in creativity
Serve the sick by ceasing hike in medicine cost so promptly
Terminate terrorist with no bloodshed unanimously
Impart equal rights to women as well cogently
Negate curse of narcotics which leads to one’s non-entity
Educate high and low classes to eradicate illiteracy
Quell the crime of bribery on the spot instantly
Undo malpractice of tax evasion systematically
Advocate laws and rules that aid in human prosperity
Lessen autarchy and fraud in politics stringently
Inundate the underworld with virtues of humanity
Trounce the thralldom with tactful tactics tactfully
Yoke the politics with selflessness progressively
..but I know, that which prevails forever is indeed weeds of INEQUALITY.
Leloudia Migdali, Greece
A Dream in Disgrace
It is a dream in disgrace
Of the snaking evil
To believe that ending glorious lands
Hurling people into the abyss of poverty and struggle
Freedom for all ruthlessly will bangle.
It is a dream in disgrace
Of the handful strayed souls
To imagine that depriving homes of bread and pride
Feeding vile fantasies with human pain
The ruling of the world will obtain.
It is a dream in disgrace
Of the few dark- eyed vultures
To challenge heavens that guards the right
Blinding the sun, disrespecting the divine
Justice on Earth will cruelly undermine.
It is a dream in disgrace
Of the shadowy dragons
To cripple hopes for everyone’s share to happiness
Feasting it all in their own time of lavish
Cold and dark imbalance among people will establish.
Because soon the missing shared power
Of the people hammered to the ground
Will find a way innocent preys get united
Against all breeds of injustice
Till equal rights for each and everyone are vividly bright.
Asoke Kumar Mitra, India
Inequality.. in some minds..
Inequality is something that should be preserved.
Else, who will wash the dirty linen? Who will wash
sink full of used utensils?
What if ever
yone is equal?
Someone cherish Inequality.
They are above of some millions, not in
queues on footpaths, begging for food,
Sleeping and scavenging..
Someone cherish Inequality.
Equality is not achievable. To create
balance, there must be inequality..
Inequality means two sides of the same coin:
Inequality lies in equality,
Inequality is the universal desire to be equal..
Someone cherish Inequality.
How difficult to change minds..
Istvan Dan Uriel Molnar, Sweden
Small Cute Shoes
small feet with such a bruise
and soft cheeks I woe
smoke or burn to be clay
expenses added up, every day
and the grim, all the same
it was no like homeland
but some have beautiful life
ownership and simple price
the night sounds fast
and sleeping with termites
in damp forest of South
be afraid of tiger to tear apart
silence, small feet like flowers
like tender and soft body
under tall canopy of trees
two bending, gentle cheeks.
Souren Mondal, India
Useless Bastards
Slick, and wonderfully crafted
The world works in mysterious ways
Riches, become more rich
and the poor sway away.
Here in the dreams of the boy living in slums
Sells the corporate a pizza to eat
Where his mum's paratha's become none
Murdered hopes,
Mutilated daydreams at night
Their bodies are wet in dew
A car runs over them along the footpath.
The dog and the child with a torn, black shirt
No one mourns their death
Let the mercedes crush the innocent daydreams at night
Let the poor beg at stations
We are as blind as the child
who was blinded with acid
To become the beggar that will supply money for drugs.
Anitah Muwanguzi, Uganda
Treasure Hunter
She wobbles across the field, tears rushing down her face-
tattered clothes, black matted coils of hair, a shadow
face grubby, a dagger sticking out of her chest
hands and feet bound in chains, visage stuffed in the clouds
as with a last attempt to stay on her feet, she sinks into the earth
a skeleton of flesh long gobbled away by anger, hunger, and disease,