Poets Against Inequality, Page 2

  The tree smells like a bleak corner, a

  Rusty alley and drug from dunghill,

  But the stench of its shade

  Is covered by perfumes and masks of glamour.

  The big bosses of the garden

  Openly make use of this tree:

  They sell to us its branches

  As if they were sandalwood or fake ivory pieces.

  The pain of its foliage receives

  The blessing and guards' care:

  They fear that a collapse or a forest fire

  Will destroy the domains of their bucolic lives.

  They have made us believe that

  It is the Tree of Knowledge,

  And everybody thinks we can neither touch it

  Nor change its stubborn evil.

  It is not true:

  We must clean its roots and purify its sap,

  For the Tree of Life that will be reborn over us.

  Ellias Aghili, Iran

  Kingdoms Fall

  Equality without 'in' was born in Eden,

  before our ancestors’ fall

  Wealth and value for all women and men

  in heaven, in the Eden hall

  The given Holy Spirit was the same;

  from the very beginning we were equal

  But now, I guess we can feel the shame

  Between us, inequality erected a wall

  When a father is sorrowful

  when he wants but can't buy

  that doll so colorful

  for his girls that cry

  Yes, feel the shame

  in a world so wide

  Some with famous names

  money they do hide

  O' sky, why don't you cry

  for this world so cold?

  From poverty many a people die

  Some rich, money they do hold

  Inequality, your castle’s so tall

  driven to the heart of the skies

  Your kingdom must fall

  for equality to rise.

  Kareem Afinbiowo Akadri, Nigeria

  The Giant Tree of Inequality

  This is a transmitted disease with no remedy

  The masses seem restless and depressed

  They are swimming in their boiling blood

  The tree of inequality has grown

  Its branches and leaves have covered the earth

  This is no more an issue between white and black

  Man and woman or old and young

  This tree has sown terrorism, hatred and pain

  This tree grows from one generation to the next

  With no hope or will to shove it down

  The poor are running down the stir of poor

  Willing to sweat out blood for two dollars

  Ready to be a cleaner with his master

  It is unfortunate that we find ourselves

  in the land of Egypt again where the few

  drink wine with their golden cup why

  Watching the masses working to the bone

  And they are laughing while we are weeping

  If this world is fair, how can less than

  65 people be richer than half of the world’s 7.4 billion

  As you and I know, the rich go for the rich

  while the poor go for the poor

  I hope one day we shall see the promised land again

  Where our hopes and dreams lie

  Where there is no class or sorrow of the bone.

  Saadat Tahir Ali, Pakistan

  Why, I came to be?

  Why was I born with a shade of dark?

  Light for the lighter and for us stark.

  Why I’m crowded in a down town end,

  Dragging my life in a twisted bend!

  While they shop at that shiny mall

  My pock marked road, a shanty stall!

  My street closed with a concrete block.

  And bro has a calloused bleeding hock.

  For them ice-cream and lollipops.

  While we look weary at those cops.

  Down their street is a lovely park.

  Here parked beaten truck of a shark.

  Why can’t we have those painted signs?

  A smiley dad when he returns from mines!

  Those kids line up and go to school.

  Here we look around dumb like a fool.

  Those kids skip, sing those psalms.

  While we sit idle wring our palms.

  Those kids are healthy giggle and laugh.

  Have games to play and caring staff.

  Kids there dressed in shorts and socks.

  We play mock with sticks and rocks.

  Why I see chain fences all around me?

  Why, I wonder, that I came to be?

  Denis Andrei, Romania

  Alienated of will

  They expect to be bowed to with respect.

  Subjugated, of course, we have to obey,

  because a position is now what makes

  the difference between the basic right to exist,

  to live, to love, to not be damned by our scream;

  “Arbeit macht frei!”

  So much wealth while more plates go empty.

  So much health while fewer can afford it.

  Is there an end to this urge of accumulation

  Without any kind of fair redistribution?

  Could you spare change, sir?

  Tia Attwood, Australia

  How greed consumes the leaders of this land

  (Sonnet)

  How greed consumes the leaders of this land!

  Like crows begin to prey upon the poor

  through tax of which our Caesar does demand

  whilst wings of penury begin to soar.

  How bleak the world has been this century,

  with propaganda spread through common lies.

  Enslaved our freedom is to penury

  as pearls of winter weep through soulful skies

  But if the rich would pay their share of tax,

  decrease the price of petrol, food and oil

  where middle-class no longer pays the max

  to make it fair to all who earn from toil

  This world's deranged by bigotry through creed,

  which paints the streets in poverty through greed.

  Kasiviswanathan Kunnanath Balakrishnan, India

  To Those Who Govern

  In the harsh light of daybreak

  Your silence on seeing disparity

  Silently spat on me and walked away.

  In the draining forenoon

  Akin to a hostile tree-pecker

  Seeking gain ruthlessly

  Your silence on seeing misery

  Pecked my heart steadily.

  In the burnt midday

  Ants are eating the injured kitten surely

  And your silence on seeing death

  Raise me to be the defender for equity.

  Anna Banasiak, Poland

  The richness of the soul

  I’m poor.

  Trapped in the cage of society,

  we were born humans

  but we are not equal.

  I walk through the path

  full of hidden light.

  My home is the beauty of being.

  Rich people are locked

  in the bars of prejudice.

  They live in the sea of unconsciousness,

  blind to the sounds of existence.

  I have no money,

  but my soul blossoms

  with spiritual richness.

  I’m the gardener

  planting flowers

  in the garden of life.

  Khaoula Basty, Tunisia

  A Poor Engineer

  My father was a poor man, but strong.

  I entered school to study and become an engineer.

  I always thought my teachers would encourage me.

  I always thought my friends would love me,

  Unfortunately,

  I was poor, my friends were r
ich.

  My teachers encouraged the rich students.

  Should I ask them to encourage me because we are equal

  In the name of Humanity?

  Should I ask them to love me because I am poor? But

  I have a powerful mind.

  I thought my school life would be a paradise.

  I thought my teachers and friends

  Would be my second family, but rich—

  Rich with emotions of love, hope, and joy.

  I started struggling to be a good, ambitious, and smart student.

  I participated in class, I was friendly,

  Not only with my teachers, but also with my friends.

  I showed and proved to all of them my genius,

  So they helped me and encouraged me to get higher marks.

  We lived in mutual respect and mutual love.

  We are born Human but different,

  So let us live equally with our differences and similarities.

  Now, I'm an engineer and I do love all of them,

  My teachers and my friends.

  Lawrence Beck, USA

  Circles of Hell

  This is our fate, Melissa. We have done

  The best that we can do: the mediocre

  Colleges, the majors no one cares about,

  The loans, the dismal circling back into

  Our parents' homes, and rooms which

  Mock us with their juvenile compact

  Disks and brick-a-brack. It isn't as if

  Time has stopped. It's worse. It's going

  Backwards now. My mother asks me

  If I'd like a roast for dinner. I don't care.

  I thought, I dreamt, that, after school,

  I'd feed myself in my own home, and

  I would not be one more servant saying,

  “May I help you, ma'am?” for wages

  Which won't pay my loans. I'd be,

  Instead, the one who's served,

  The haughty bitch who finds a flaw

  In every item that she sees, and throws

  A fit until the man who never has kind

  Words for me, comes out and fawns,

  And takes her hand, and begs her to

  Accept what she had wanted for

  Three fourth's the price. I see

  Surrender in his eyes, and I see

  Hers. She's crushed his soul and

  Chortles, knowing that that's so.

  She'll take her prize and drive back

  To a mini-mansion up the street

  Where she will gloat until her

  Husband, rising young executive,

  Comes home and asks her what's

  For dinner. “Roast?” she asks.

  He walks away. Some steps up

  From us, Melissa, she, too, knows

  And hates her fate, and realizes

  That she's done the best

  That she can do.

  Abhilasha Bhatt, India

  Rich dad, Poor dad

  Rich Dad—

  Rich dad can give you a big house with a helipad,

  Lots of luxurious cloth, perfumes, watches and shoes in the closet,

  Many Cars like a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and a Jaguar to drive;

  Can buy you a personal airplane and helicopter to fly high in the sky;

  Can give you lots of bundles of paper called money;

  Can allow you to spend lots of money in late night and day light parties;

  Can buy punishment whether small or big for you;

  Can buy a seat in highly reputed institutions for your admission, whether you are worthy for it or not;

  Can give you a well settled business without doing a single bit of work;

  Will cry for your failure after giving everything and fulfilling every wish whether legitimate or not

  Poor Dad—

  Poor dad can give you a house of love with helipad of affection;

  Can't afford to gift you costly and luxurious cars

  But can give you a car of discipline and politeness that drives you in the journey of life;

  Can give you the lesson of honesty;

  Can teach you as a teacher in the institution of life, for life;

  Can teach you the importance of life and hard work;

  Can't give you bundles of money but can give you bundles of sacrifices for you;

  Can help you to understand the importance of emotions and education to fly high in the sky;

  Can help you to accept your mistakes, face the consequences, learn from them and dissolve them in your life;

  Can't give you the well settled business but can give you the way towards a well settled life;

  Will never cry for not being able to afford your every wish, because he knows his teaching will never let you to get down.

  Mayjorey Buendia, The Philippines

  Inequality / In Equality

  Worker ants, you have to be up

  early in the morning

  Without sufficient living wage,

  but still, long-hours working

  Body aches and stomach cramps

  I know, you are worrying

  High consumer taxes and piling medicine bills..

  No, I'm not paying!

  In this world you are bound

  to serve the higher-ups

  Bugs with wings, some will eat you alive,

  compose the 1% on top

  Coeteris Paribus, has been long gone

  since the population boom

  Who am I? It's me, the Queen Bee,

  and I'm dying Soon.

  Sophy Chen, China

  Men and Women are not Equal

  When I was young my parents always quarreled, day and night

  My father always said that all the money was earned by him

  While my mother always did housework and sobbed in silence

  How men and women were not equal, in those years

  I swore that I must earn money as men did when I grew up

  So I unconsciously made a comparison with what men did

  When I was at school I studied very hard as men did

  I wore men’s clothes, spoke as men, walked as men, even acted as men,

  and did nearly everything as men did.

  I always unconsciously make a competition with men

  When I work in society I work very hard as men do

  I try my best to tell them I can do everything as they do

  But till now, as an English teacher, I cannot earn my fair share

  As a poetry translator, I cannot earn what I want to

  Till now, I even cannot make a competition with my living

  So what I can do is to make a competition with myself

  While I doubt that men and women are not equal or life is not equal,

  or I am not equal in my life stages, sometimes

  I even doubt that if my life stages are not equal,

  humanity won’t be equal in eternality.

  __________

  Editor's note:

  Oxfam calls on governments to take action to fight Inequality. Among Oxfam recommendations:

  – end to the gender pay gap.

  Sahra Hussein Dahir, Somalia

  The lost opportunity

  She wanted Education, the key to a better life

  She was able to find a little bit of that light

  On Earth that shined in the stars up there

  It was what all she and her African friends cared about

  They were eager to achieve their dreams

  Education, the diamond of life

  Is the way a soul can be free from the dark

  She walked toward the school but access was denied

  Because she couldn’t afford the money

  Even though it danced everywhere in her neighborhood.

  It seemed she wore a mark of poverty

  Which took away her opportunity

  Stolen by a top class of rich billionaires

  And now millions of African kids just
like her

  Are blocked from education’s light.

  They are lost in the dark but not allowed to shine.

  They can’t find their way without our help.

  You and I must stand for their rights

  You and I can bring back their hope.

  And give them more opportunity.

  Anish Debnath, India

  Irrational Differentiation

  Why are there still some places on earth

  where the birth of girl is mourned?

  Is it the thought of dowry or the non-returning

  Investment that makes her scorned?

  Why is her brother more privileged?

  Is it the thought of future earnings

  Or the preservation of family surname that gives him the best

  Education and disdains her because someday she is going to leave?

  Why is she not free to go everywhere? Why is she caged?

  Is it the thought of those horrible moments where the

  Well-privileged cluster, making one of them brutally tainted?

  Yet in that society that girl is unduly painted.

  Why are there places where she has to go veiled?

  The more closing inside, the higher she is scaled.

  Then why would the other sex exhibit his face?

  Why the rules are so unequal in the race?

  This under-privileged clan has proved to be worthy of everything

  They have even walked on the surface of the moon

  So abandon those narrow thoughts & respect them

  No birth is a curse rather it is a boon.

  We, born as human, have every right to live, to desire, to go

  upstairs, to foster our dreams together, holding our hands

  Please don't differentiate according to our biological brands

  __________

  Author’s note:

  – promotion of equal rights for women (there are parts of the world were women have no rights).

  Luka Dezmalj, Croatia

  Even If a Cynic

  There are less and less

  Rich people in this world of ours

  More and more modern slaves

  Working for a dime 23.5 hours

  Thugs with six fingers

  Would rather watch the world burn

  Can't even learn from old Egypt or Rome

  Guardians of secrets, in it too deep to return

  Just keep up the pressure

  Use democracy, use your right

  No one needs to die, keep up the fight

  Simple and undeniable math gives the light

  No one should die in vain for this, no one

  No one needs to die at all, no one!

  And why? Simple math, so many unjust