Poets Against Inequality
she’s been raped, and plundered, enslaved to a job that takes more than it gives.
Cain swings by with a cane, manicured nails, spotless suit
mumbling orders with a mouthful, red sauce dripping all over his hands
his fattened calves for children runabout kicking some workers playfully
their delightful laughter trailing.
But still he cuts so deep,
In a ceaseless assault, consolidating all he can,
Sinking his claws deeper,
their children are robbed of a deserving future, for there’s nothing left to hope for
behind closed doors, they are pawns
only squabbling. Lazarus’s descendants,
they grope in the dark, searching for a way
but hemmed in, with an infinite debt burden,
they sprawl tugging at the helm of his white trousers
if he kicks by mistake, it’s not his fault really.
Bharati Nayak, India
What A Shame!
We have travelled to Moon and Mars
We are to conquer many more stars
With the blessings of science and human brain
So much progress we have made in material gain
Man has this world’s treasure under his feet
Still his greed for more remain insatiated
He sends rockets and spacecrafts to explore more
While people on this earth die of poverty and hunger
Calling mankind developed is only a sham
As all knowledge of man has failed to solve a simple problem
Why poor man’s labor selling so cheap
Why rich man’s labor selling rich
Why poor man’s life so cheap
Why rich man’s life so rich
What a shame!
We can’t solve a simple equation
We can’t equate rich and poor
We can’t stop rich getting richer and poor getting poorer
We can’t bridge the widening gap
As the fate of billions controlled by few hands
What a shame!
All of man’s knowledge
Have gone down the drain.
Mohammed Asim Nehal, India
Barbie Doll
In a beautiful red dress, curly hairs nicely combed, white shoes, a
tiny girl gets down from a golden car, with a Barbie doll in her hands.
Drops into a vegetable vendor, who has small girl too, wearing an
old blue dress full of patches and dirt on it, hairs like wild grass.
No shoe just vegetables beside.
She says, “Dad, look at my counterpart: she's wearing
a nice dress and has a Doll"
Dad says, “Honey, it is of no use, we have no safe place to keep her,
the dog might take it. Play with your vegetables".
Ah, Barbie doll! Drops from those tiny hands and break into pieces.
So the drops from those little eyes.
"I have the best", says muddy girl to her dad with a kiss and big hug.
Stephen Pennell, UK
Sixty Two People
Sixty two fat cats hold tight on their riches.
The poorest of people have to make do with scraps from the table.
Yet in a slum of a work place,
The seamstresses eyes strain
Sewing in labels of companies so famous to name as it would cause
Them to so much shame.
If only the bosses would stop dodging taxes
And pay decent wages to the lads and the lasses.
Schools can't teach children who are working in kitchens.
If only our Governments would show some conviction
To banish the world of injustice and victimization!
Sarah Louise Persson, UK
Inequality Is Living
The little girl sits on the ground by a hut,
No toilet to use and no bed to lay down on,
A picture of innocence lives in hardship each day,
No government to care or waste time on.
Just a few miles south it's so different,
The rich politicians have mansions,
They have Dr's and plenty of good food to eat,
They get anything they want, asked no questions.
The girl she walks miles for her water each day,
The container she straps to her back,
The child has no Dr to clean up deep cuts,
While the wealthy just turn on their tap.
With no education and with infertile soil,
The rich throw away food they'd eat,
They all rely on the aid that we send them,
Interception means, once again, defeat.
Take a look at the child with the flies in her eyes,
Can't they see that there's no justice there,
Their wealth is their greed and it's staining their hearts,
One would think that no one was aware?
So while the rich man has fast cars,
And indulges in wine,
The poor man is watching his young children die,
The injustice itself is a crime.
Dominic Prempeh, Ghana
Fateless Souls on the other side
Our world is unfair; to us, those on the other side
We are born into automatic slavery and servitude
And raised in hardship and rugged life
We trail a hallucinatory and unachievable hope
For we have imaginary parents
And we never envisage what tomorrow has for us.
Care, comfort, solidarity and harmony are mere dreams to us
And the concept of family is meaningless to our feeble ears.
We feed on scanty leftovers
Semi-Clothed; Mockery and injustices rain on us
We sleep on mats and pillow-less ragged cloths
And every morning greets us with ailments and problems.
Paleness, dirt-laden, and bare-footedness envelope us
In an everyday life of pain, fear and tears
Three doomsters we have come to know and unconsciously befriend.
Poverty and paucity stricken life is our portion
Affluence is a mirage to our feeble thoughts
And, education becomes a wild fantasy we might never have.
Our call for mayday in mayhem always reaches no ear,
Who up there wants to listen to us or come closer?
No one; for they would be tagged as ‘some of us’
We live like there is everlasting life here
But deep within
We fear we can be ‘swept away’; any time, any day.
Marianne Larsen Reninger, USA
Unfortunate Soul
They say, “PTSD, Alcoholism,
A Druggie,
Don’t let him take advantage,
Don’t let him fool you.”
Him with his cardboard sign–
Food please, Work please..
But your heart tugs, you
Swallow hard,
You don’t want to ignore
Him and keep on going.
You imagine, bills in his hand,
Sandwich for his pocket,
Maybe a direction card
For the nearest shelter.
They say, “At least he’s free
In this land of milk and honey.
Don’t let him fool you,
Him with his cardboard sign.”
And the light turns green,
And we drive on..
Govinda Rimal, Bhutan
Blooming with inequality
I reamed your eye for tear
This tear is salty,
The more I drink, the more I am thirsty.
I tore your heart for pleasure,
This pleasure is crazy,
The more I desire, the more I am greedy.
My knowledge bought this wealth
From that poor slave,
br />
My wealth bought this ego
From that rustic mind.
My coffer, I glorified;
but, grave is still barren.
Money, death is ranting me,
Reply him before I die.
I was blind,
Before the dew of sympathy dropped upon
The bleak heart,
I was unequal,
Before the wisp of equality, dwelled
The worthless mind.
__________
Author's note:
Inequality is a plague to Mankind. The unlimited wealth of a few is no good to human society. Nobody can buy eternity.
Jan Ross, UK
The shelter
I remember his arrival, trying to wrap my
Imagination around his story, horrified
To hear some kids had set fire to him
Sleeping, exhausted, in the park.
Filthy, overgrown nails, skin and bone,
Though you wouldn't know it, underneath
His matted coat, beyond desperate, found
Sleeping in bins underneath the cold
Concrete staff stairwell of the local hotel.
Tonight, I bring his supper to the lobby,
We are so full, his warm brown eyes,
Embarrassingly grateful, meet mine.
I soften my gaze and gentle my hand
To greet him.
We have a special connection, Bobby and I,
Amongst all who pass through here..
"Hi Jan", he says
"Wanna read my latest poem?"
And laughing, We trade bangers and mash
For a glimpse of his soul.
__________
Author's note:
Bobby is still street homeless, there is no place he fits in our society, there is a lack of will and resources from the government, those who act in our name, to find a solution for Bobby. At the last hospital appointment we could get him to, Bobby was diagnosed with chronic advanced cirrhosis of the liver. We worry he won't survive another winter.
Sarah Russell, USA
Mental Inequality
People say inequality is race, religion, gender, and sexuality
but have you ever stopped to notice
the kids sitting on the sidelines?
The ones with mental disorders
like depression disorder, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder
they get ignored
it’s not discrimination
but it’s something else
it’s unfair
it’s not being equal
that’s what inequality is
treated like they’re nothing
treated like they have no value
treated with inequality
they’re told they can’t be like everyone else because they’re different
this world is scared of different
because they don’t understand
and they fear what they don’t understand
if we can open our
hearts
minds
souls
to these kids
maybe, just maybe
they can feel equal
__________
Editor’s note:
Someone may object that the poem doesn't refer to the Oxfam report. Yet, Oxfam does address mental health costs: not addressing mental health in adolescence costs billions $ worldwide in multiple ways: homelessness; costs to the healthcare system; lost income from individuals who could have been productive members of society; individuals who use the welfare system because they don't function in society; days lost from work; the literature indicate that most mental illness first shows up during adolescence, so addressing it during this time is critical.
Leila Samarrai, Serbia
Master & Servant
"For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance;
but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."
(Matthew 13:12)
SERVANT:
I learned to fear, I wretch, with Kantian stars in the heart.
And you, Master, with prostitute blessings, look!
You'll place your head on the holy ground,
You'll give your favor to the Lord.
He blesses his rich kids.
Are we all not under the same sun?
Are we not blown in the same winds?
They, the harpies, with Midas’ fingers
in Dante's wood, made of the leaves of oak trees,
Are turning blood to gold.
And I, a useless servant with the look of Medusa,
Am turning my tears to stone.
MASTER:
My daughter, calm your heart..
Try to forget the children in sumptuous clothes
That were fleeing from you. Try to forget
The golden calves of Mount Sinai.
Remember the love I gave you at birth
By accepting the gifts of the rich.
With gold, they are paying back their debts.
Forgive those who do not have–
And thus reconcile the human injustice.
Kirti Sharma, India
What the Poor Say
I don't have any idea about how it feels to sit under the tree
No idea how good it gets, when fresh air you breathe.
I don't know the road smooth and clean,
I don't know a park where all of us can play and speak.
I cannot imagine how it feels to ride in a car,
I cannot, because there's an ordeal of money.
Because I am the only bread winner, and have five to feed.
You're five bread winners, and everything is free.
My kids are starving alone in the broken home
Your kids, a victim of obesity, don't care where to go.
And I would not like to say anything about education,
I am far away from that life settling expectation.
The bridge that keeps us at a distance is very long.
God knows how much time it will take to cross.
And every little happiness around us,
Is held back because we're poor.
And I am sure you wealthy people, don't want a life like this
It should be fair in our lands, both poor and rich,
But I can see you're too greedy,
Yours a ruthless heart, it can never help a needy one.
Anzelyne Shideshe, Kenya
A Melody against Inequality
I hear songs of peace, love and unity
All equating equality since the 1st Century
From various Races, Tribes, Languages and Nations
Rich and poor coherently rejoicing
I've read books of various writers
Harmoniously exercising a unified literature,
But unto the financial lyrics,
Each reciting an exclusive lyric
Of utility consumption by a few 62.
Monopoly of power in their hands too.
The only chorus I hear is biased,
Many howling at the midst of poverty,
Women fighting for higher posts,
Girls fantasizing over PhD’s,
Them acquiring jets to dream destinations,
Listen to their sound of laughter, in palaces,
Drinking and dancing to their slogans,
Feasting on silver spoons and gold plates,
Others waiting for there remains in dustbins,
With stomach aches to their thatched houses,
Isn't it wrong to let water overflow unnecessary?
Preaching water and drinking wine,
Lets rejoice in a common rhythm,
A melody against inequity.
Osiel Silverino da Silva, Brazil
Stone Hearts
The sun rises for everyone:
Good and bad.
Rich and poor.
&nbs
p; The rain comes to all:
Good and bad.
Rich and poor.
But.. shelter?
Do all have shelter?
No. Not everyone can take shelter.
The land freely yields fruit.
But.. can everyone get enough of it?
No. Not everyone can.
The springs gush water abundantly.
But.. can everyone sate their thirst?
No. Not everyone can.
So tell me.. what's wrong?
Why do men take more than their share?
Do they think they are eternal?
Where is the brotherhood?
Men are lost within themselves,
There is no light to bring them back.
Hearts are not meat.
Pamela Sinicrope, USA
Know Where To Go
I'm:
Beautiful. Rich.
Clever. Popular.
Stuffed full!
When I wake up in the morning
I can see every possibility,
Make a million choices.
I'm:
Dirty. Poor.
Illiterate. Invisible.
I'm starving!
When I go to sleep at night
My stomach churns,
And I fear for my safety.
What do we know of each other?
What are our secrets that keep us alive?
Does metaphysical pain equal or exceed Maslow's needs?
Can we ever truly be friends?
Can a warm blanket, an unspoken look
Or a freehand
Restore the balance
They have stolen from us?
We avert our eyes and walk along opposite
Ends of the tightrope.
There's only room for one.
Petra Soliman, Egypt
Woman
Whose bones are stronger?
She awakes daily at sunrise, 05:00 AM,
He continues to lay down till 08:00 AM,
She heads off to work, driving down each lane with heavy thoughts,
Selflessly thinking, already, what would she bake later for the family?
He arrives to his office, selfishly wanting to leave earlier to sit at the café,
As the sun sets slowly, and a day has begun to end,
She arrives back home and starts another job,
Her never-ending job as she sweeps the floors, boils the vegetables and arranges for lunch,
The children come to eat yet without gratitude for the woman who has pain in her bones,
They leave the table with a full stomach, but show no gratitude as they return to their addictions,
Hours pass by as he arrive late after greasy meal and lung of smoke,