Tag Archives: poor

A Not So American Dream

By D. R. DiFrancesco

Not so very long ago

I dreamed of a utopia

Beautiful and green

Full of promise and hope

Then man got in the way

Swelled with pride,

Consumed with self-importance

Greedy, prejudice and hateful

He ravaged the land

Taking what he wanted and leaving it in ruins

Polluting our water

Poisoning the ground

Making it a malignant wasteland

Seeing fit to keep this to himself

We planted

We built

We raised our families upon this cursed soil

Ignorant to the damage being done

Chronic illness plaguing our children

They say it’s all in the name of progress

Complain and you are Anti-American

Speak out and you are unpatriotic

Protest and you are a Communist

Who will be held accountable

The autocrats claims a divine right,

All in the name of capitalism

But they don’t plant, build or raise their children on this putrid land

They cry fowl from their ivory castles

Waving their jeweled scepters

Hiding behind their detestable walls

Looking down upon those of us less fortunate

They watch us wither under the toil of our labor

Building for them what they could not build for themselves

Drawing every last breath from us

All for the sake of another dollar

When will they have enough

When will we be more than just expendable

If they have their way

Never

The Forgotten Millions

By D. R. DiFrancesco

The sunken eyes of my child,

Daddy, I’m hungry,

A cry that stings my ears.

Oligarchs say, we will fix everything,

Really…how?

Didn’t you cause this in the first place,

Sending my labor to the third world.

Tell me what I’m to say to my little girl,

Daddy has to look for a job,

Food will have to wait.

No ones hiring,

I’m not high tech, I only know how to build things,

Since when is blue-collar a crime?

We call our old Fairmont wagon home,

B of A took our four walls,

Now where is my American dream?

They say we are the reason entitlements are broke,

They say I’m milking the system,

They don’t know, or even care who I am.

Another day on the hunt,

Another day knocking on doors,

Another day begging for work,

Another day at the food bank,

Another night in our car,

Another night of my child being hungry,

Another day of the oligarchs trying to say I’m worthless,

Tomorrow,

Another day of us fighting on!

Plight of the Homeless

By D. R. DiFrancesco

Shadow people abound,

Faceless and nameless they inhabit our streets,

Forgotten amongst the urban sound,

Left to stifle in summer’s heat.

 

Shadow people trapped,

Passed by like trash littering the walkway,

Feeble hands outstretched for scraps,

Passersby strain to look away.

 

Shadow people lost,

Beaten down by an iron fist,

Society tries to subdue them at any cost,

Acting as though they don’t exist.

 

Shadow people remain,

Vagrants, homeless, bums, call them what you will,

Put a hand out to ease their strain,

Comfort and humanity and faith instill.

 

Shadow people no more,

Take them in, in body and soul,

End the battle of class; end the poverty of war,

Lift them up, our brothers and sisters, their urgency behold.