Family Values - Minimalist Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition

Family Values

He confides,
With great earnestness,
To the crowd,
That he’s for family values,
And by that he means the
Old-fashioned,
Tried and true,
Time-tested morals of
Exemplars deeply
Steeped in hypocrisy and
Callousness, effortlessly
Trampling over anyone who
Doesn’t believe in their
Particular brand of
Tribal decree,
A narrowing of scope,
Collapsing heart.


 
You can support my work, because poetry matters.

Scarcity - Minimalist Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition

Scarcity

Scarcity spreads its
Bony fingers across
The landscape, an
Ominous shadow obliterating
Kindness and hope.
People huddle in fear,
Staring at the cracks
Developing in the dam.
Even in the most opulent
Board rooms people talk
Worriedly about the
Coming deluge and continue
Stuffing the vaults with
Stolen gold, expecting
They’ll survive the
Cataclysm they created.


 
You can support my work, because poetry matters.

On Display - Minimalist Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition

On Display

Arms crossed,
Scrunched face,
Pouty lip,
Poor little tycoon
Sulks theatrically,
Explodes indignantly,
Threatens to withhold
Contrived largesse,
A normally selfless gesture
Becomes just another
Bargaining chip.
It’s all fine and dandy
When you can do it
Without being discovered,
But quite another when
Your modus operandi and
Shriveled heart
Are starkly on display,
Then you have to face
What kind of person
You’ve become,
It still doesn’t matter,
You’ve been through it before,
It’s how you got here.

Operating Expenses - Minimalist Free Verse Poems about the Human Condition

Operating Expenses

At one of
Many thousands of
Enormous stores,
Filled with cheap things
Fabricated by impoverished
Hands in parts of the
World out of sight and mind,
Lavishly benefiting one
Obscenely wealthy,
Compassionless family,
Whose snickering members
Give almost nothing
To charity thanks to a
Fiendishly clever
Tax-evading foundation,
Another employee’s
Already meager hours
Are cut to reduce
Operating expenses,
Though routinely
Expected to work overtime,
Off the clock,
Or be replaced.

Poetry by Guy Farmer