Art is Wealth
Before there were art schools
crammed with curricula
to entice, allure, attract,
aesthetic aspirers
who wanted to make pictures
in a middle class sort of way,
going to college,
getting a degree.
When the first artists
daubed on cave walls
they convinced the tribe
they were not evil-doers.
And artistic impulses endured.
As we built cities,
adorned them with sculpture,
rediscovered, reinvented
painting on walls,
reestablishing harmony,
until a deviant
painted on board
that could be carried away,
making art a commodity
easily transported.
Ode to My Land
The dwindling lines
between rich and poor
are not drawn on maps, but we know
where we belong.
Periodic intrusions
into protected enclaves
are not frequent enough
to disturb the wealthy,
whose extreme comforts
are always protected
by the legions of democracy.
The privileged,
indifferent to the sufferings
caused by deprivation,
unequal distribution of wealth,
feast in mansions of pleasure
while many go hungry,
but are so tranquilized by tv
that we lack the spirit,
except for individual rampages,
to redress grievances.
The Elective Process
Our elected officials
are well fed, well dressed,
reasonably secure
in well-paid positions
as long as they obey
mandates of their masters,
whose funds buy the votes
that put them in office
to legislate the laws
that protect the assets
of their employers,
while naïve citizens
await the help they expect
from servants of the people
who betray them every day,
the democratic way.
Finality
Death is all around us
from the tiniest insect
perishing daily
in the crush of life,
to the largest mammals
hunted to near extinction
for tusks, meat, trophies,
and mankind is nature’s star,
killing more than other creatures,
inventing endless variations
to slaughter other creatures,
indifferent to fatalities
unless death comes to loved ones.
Watchdogs
The hirelings of the rich
guard portals of prosperity
in service to their masters
to prevent unwanted entry.
Elected official stooges
vote negatively regularly
against benefits for the needy,
food stamps rejected for the hungry,
subsidies for agribusiness,
taxes on the wealthy rejected,
unemployment extensions rejected,
capitalism at its finest,
those who have, get more,
those who don’t have, get less,
enactments symptomatic
of a perverted system
rewarding few,
punishing many.
