Tag Archives: poverty

Gone Are Those Days

Gone are those days

You know…the ones where our children are better off than we are.

What is better for them,

Saddled with debt for an education that guarantees them nothing,

Grown children living with their parents,

Prospects for their futures clouded,

Shadowed by unceasing war?

For many taking up arms for their country the only way to survive

Taking injury and death as necessary risks.

Is this what we wanted for our children,

Is this what our parents had hoped for us?

Where do they go from here in this country divided?

Everything is in turmoil!

The government is polarized,

The people brainwashed by extremist media.

Bankers, the greatest threat as described by our founders

Have slithered their way into our capital’s marble halls.

So much promise has been squandered.

This once great nation is sacrificing its young

And for what, pieces of gold,

A return to a past that has long since died,

Survival of the fittest where the rich become richer

And everyone else becomes irrelevant.

This is not the country I knew and loved,

It is an abomination of the worst kind

Feasting on the bones and blood of our children

To fuel its unquenchable lust and greed.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Money is Power (Senryu)

Money is power

Survival of the fittest

And we aren’t worthy

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Tin Cup In His Hand (Tanka)

Embed from Getty Images
 
Tin cup in his hand

Begging for change in the rain

Hoping to survive

 

Tens of thousands of dollars

Spent to sit on the fifty

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

There’s No Place Like Home (Tanka)

There’s no place like home

Family huddled around

Sharing Christmas cheer

Unless home is on the street

And your cheer is someones trash

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

A little reminder to be generous to those in need at this time and all times of the year,  if for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.

In This Gilded Age

In this gilded age

What is old is new again.

Worship of the golden calf

Has supplanted our rights.

Blood shed over these many years

Washed away with the bleach of power.

Fault lies squarely with us,

We allow their deceptions to dissuade.

Staying home we complain

Or cast vote against our own interest.

Each time we give them greater power

Plunging ourselves ever deeper into their pit.

How long will it be before it is too late,

When our eyes are so shielded as to be blind.

You think they are not displaying hateful smiles;

Proud of their accomplishments…

Give yourselves a pat on the back.

You believe that they care about you;

Their coffers are their only love.

Spending to kill their opposition…

This is their way and you are but pawns.

Their complicit media does nothing to inform,

Deceiving and perpetuating their propaganda.

With a populace too lazy to seek the truth,

They are easily swooned by soundbites.

Repeat them often enough and people believe,

How sad this truly is.

We base decisions on 140 characters…or less,

We take statements as fact from anonymous sources.

As a people, we claim to appreciate due diligence,

But not when it comes to those that govern us.

Quick to believe rumors, mass emails and tweets,

We call ourselves informed.

What is it Jefferson said about an enlightened citizenry?

“…it is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic.”

Many of us have proved to be a disappointment…

Social media is not enough, soundbites are not enough;

Ignorance is not an excuse!

You shout your patriotism as if it’s fact

While wrapping yourself in the American flag.

Meanwhile you seek to distance yourself from the poor,

Treating them all as abusers of our system, a drain on society,

Unworthy of saving….better left for dead.

Our health and security you put on the chopping block

Or sell off for the profit of privateers.

You desire to corporatize the education of our young

For so long a public mainstay,

Now raped and pillaged then labeled dysfunctional.

You should be ashamed!

Every institution we hold dear is up for sale.

One day as you enter your sunset years

You will look back, perhaps longingly

And wish for those things that you slaughtered

Out of pure ignorance and deadliest of sins

–Greed.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

For The Kings Amusement

Drawing your broadsword,

The shrill sound of blade on scabbard

Sends the wind whistling as you ready for the plunge.

From your gilded perch you call a throne,

You drive your saber home!

Stripping away every last breath,

Leaving those that built your dominion

Clutching their throats and gasping for air,

All to adorn your coffers

With the gold of fools.

Corpses of the loyal lie scattered about

Left to rot in the noonday sun.

You know more will come

Looking to you for mercy and sustenance,

Knowing they too are expendable.

Your minstrels praise you calling you benevolent Lord

While you smile your hollow smile.

With yellowed teeth and putrid breath

You shower them with accolades,

All the while condemning them to death.

You find this such great sport,

A vicious game,

Played solely for your amusement.

Who loses makes no matter

So long as its you that prospers.

You look down upon your subjects

With jeweled goblet in hand,

Whispering in contempt

That they are not worthy of your grace

Nor deserving of your clemency.

So you carry on like a spoiled Prince

Conniving those around you,

“Fear not!”, you proclaim–this is all in jest,

While the executioner readies his block

For the next ax to fall.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

Authors Note: I wrote this piece back in November of 2012 and as I expected, nothing has changed, in fact in many ways it has gotten drastically worse for so many people.  Sadly, I can’t really say I am surprised.

Pain Like No Other

Pain…like no other

Living–wrong side of the tracks.

Dirty and hungry;

Sunken eyes reveal sadness

Under shroud of filthy streets.

Urchins you call them,

Throwaways to be ignored,

Wastes of human flesh.

Where is your humanity?

They’re people like you and me

Children of this world

Worthy of our sympathy

Worthy of our love

You best take heed!

For one day it may be you

That is spit upon.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Blood And Tears By The Day We Weep

Blood and tears by the day we weep

At the hands of a master with whip in hand.

Giving just enough so his slaves may eat

While keeping them cast in this purgatory land.

 

From towers of ivory they cackle at our fear

That their purse strings of velvet they may cinch.

Leaving us victim to the profits held so dear

Unwilling to contort even an inch.

 

O’ the horrors of the indentured organizing for their rights

How terrible and unpatriotic they must be.

To want a fair wage and sleep peacefully at night

Instead of worrying that their jobs just might flee.

 

Capitalists claim it’s the best of both worlds

That the profits trickle down to the masses.

With a grin on their faces lies they do hurl

Condemning the poor and middle classes.

 

Those that buy in are the ones they most harm

Afraid to speak out for what is fair.

Choosing to smile and nod with a charm

That sloughs it all off with no care.

 

They lie to themselves that all’s as it should be

No better system exists on this earth.

While the master ships our jobs away overseas

This shows how little we are worth.

 

Who is unpatriotic where their loyalty is concerned

The capitalist driven by power and greed.

Or is it the captive dying for all he has earned

Just to live and his family to feed.

 

In nearly two and half centuries very little has changed

Money and class are still rules of the day.

This is how unjustly our system is arranged

The affluent would have it no other way.

 

So pull close your wife, husband, daughter and son

For the ride may get bumpier as we go.

Unless we fight back then the master–he has won

Then ever less is all we’ll have to show.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Blink And It Is Gone

Blink and it is gone.

All that you took for granted–

Evaporated,

Because of insatiable greed

And deep-rooted selfishness.

Looking down from high

Upon those less fortunate

With smirks and disdain–

You should truly be ashamed!

Each dirty face could be yours

In a single blink.

It is that simple.

In this life or the next

There will be judgement.

Do you want to take the chance

That you’ll be the lesser soul?

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

 

Galvanizing Hate

Galvanizing hate!

Bombs serve as propaganda

Scrolled in human blood.

Tears can’t wash away the pain

As the body count rises.

What is to be gained,

There cannot be a victor

Amongst this madness?

Only memories of death

Can survive in these ruins.

Animosity!

The progeny of warfare,

Perpetuated.

It is the subjugator–

Trapping us in violence.

 

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~