Never having endured
A single day of discrimination,
Or been treated differently solely
Because of how they look –
Deemed to be less than human –
Traded as a commodity
To enrich soulless captors,
They declare that all strife
Is over, deep historical,
Personal wounds glossed-over
In a single cavalier pronouncement,
The suffering of millions
Reduced to a sound bite
Promulgated by thoughtless louts.
He’s building a sumptuous
Penthouse appointed with
The most lavish details
And plush furnishings
For his surgically-enhanced wife
Who refuses to succumb
To the effects of aging
(Not that he hasn’t visited
Their favorite surgeon as well).
No expense is spared in
Building this magnificent
Showcase overlooking the ocean.
Once a month or so,
He tours the construction site,
Demanding that this or that
Be changed or noting that something
Isn’t quite to specifications
(A pastime his wife enjoys too).
The workers nod accommodatingly,
Finish another long shift, and
Go home to their shacks.
Fair faces sitting
Around a table
Jovially sharing a
Meal served by
Darker complexions.
Their ancestors
Ran the railroads,
Built industries,
Took advantage of
Hapless inhabitants.
Entrenched gentry
Favoring a certain
Type of look,
Lineage,
Connections.
Walking into a room,
Unpleasant realization,
No one else like you,
No one shares any of
Your sensibility.
Unnuanced,
Coarse environment,
Guarded people
Hiding behind walls of
Small talk.
They sit down to
Play a game and it
Quickly descends into
A nightmarish battle
Between two people who
Feel inadequate unless
They are destroying
Someone else.
Predetermined sentence,
Life begun with
Severe disadvantages,
Ongoing tragedy of
Limited opportunities.
Fear and misunderstanding
From so-called upstanding
Citizens whose actions
Condemn her to spend
Time staring out a
Small window at plain walls.
It was never going to
Be any other way,
Self-fulfilling prophecy,
Discarded from birth.
The so-called experts
Are baffled about why
Companies aren’t hiring,
Postulating that it’s because
The economy is still sluggish,
In spite of record profits.
CEOs whine that there’s
A lack of qualified
Candidates to fill the
Positions they have available.
In the warehouse,
Danny says they’re all
Full of hot air,
Everyone knows it’s because
The powers that be don’t want
To spend money to train
Anyone or pay them well,
They just make their
Current people work harder
And ride the gravy train.
Walks around in a
Cozy, clueless cocoon,
Spouting off nonsense
As if it were true.
Says anything and
Everything she wants,
Soiled, sordid
Inner process revealed.
Cruel conditioning belies
Inexistent contrition,
Catatonic state of
Unmindful destruction.
Unending flow of information —
Hyper-stimulation.
Neurons firing chaotically,
Entertainment blather,
The superficial supersedes.
Like the easy stuff,
Eschew deeper meaning
Requiring extra effort —
Critical thinking,
Reflection.
The odd child,
It languishes alone,
Brushed aside, unstudied,
Ignored, but no less
Important, valuable.
When he switched careers,
Nobody understood,
Unable to fit him
Into the boxes they had
Previously put him in.
They furrowed their
Brows, perplexed,
Trying to reanimate
A dull static image:
Outdated,
Inaccurate,
Comfortable.
Unable to grasp
The meaning in this
Unforeseen turn of events,
They wander off
To consort with
Their falsities.