Poets Against Inequality, Page 4

  He came only to bid them farewell

  For theirs is a world where ends do not meet

  She placed him on a cold shallow grave

  As if implanting him back to the womb of mother earth

  Not too far from her sight, no too deep to her reach

  She laid him to rest along with her broken dreams

  He came to a world so unkind

  Where thick dividing lines are long drawn

  He was not blessed with a silver spoon

  He came to live a little and die.

  Sofia Kioroglou, Greece

  He that is greedy

  Woe to those who get evil gain for their house

  and put their nest on high.

  You greedy narcissists, who will

  deliver you from the hand of calamity?

  Woe to those who have looted

  for they will be looted.

  He that is greedy troubles his own house

  Didn't you know that pride comes before a fall?

  Woe to those who are like wolves,

  tearing their prey and building their palaces by injustice

  Though they build their nest as high as the eagle's,

  from there, their cupidity will bring them down.

  Varghese Kuncheria, India

  There is a Sore Evil

  There is a sore evil soaring under the sun,

  The evil of inequality among people and nations,

  The profit of the earth is meant for all,

  But the riches are kept by a handful.

  The nature of man is naturally selfish,

  And the poor are oppressed and reproached,

  Lay aside all malice; let no guile be our guide,

  Let love and brotherhood be part of our DNA!

  To oppress the poor is to reproach humanity,

  There is a gap that becomes wider day by day,

  The gulf between the haves and the have nots.

  Refuse to hide your wealth in tax havens.

  Pay your taxes and make eternal savings,

  That moths do not eat or perish by evil travail,

  Honour all men, let not your heart be haughty

  Have pity on the needy, and honour your Maker.

  The struggle is the same; the UN has tried its best,

  So are the nations but you can make it happen,

  Neither slumber nor sleep till you sweep up,

  Inequality away forever from our lovely planet.

  The billions cannot add a day more to our lives,

  But it can add many more days into other’s lives.

  We all fade away like flowers that wither away,

  Let the horn of righteousness take bud!

  Kelly Kurt, USA

  Egalitarianism

  All men are not created equal

  Short, tall

  Weak, strong

  Privileged, disadvantaged

  Myriad differences

  No two the same

  These diversities should not preclude opportunity

  Education, healthcare

  A living wage, a voice

  Freedom, hope

  Respect

  Sixty-two people –

  Sixty-two people have more wealth

  Than the poorest three and a half billion

  Combined

  Squandered, under taxed, untaxed

  Wrested from the hyper-exploited

  Undeserved

  Disgusting

  Evil

  Unjustifiable

  Indefensible

  Unsustainable

  Correctable

  Agatha-Eliza Laposi, Romania

  The Collector

  These silent and bitter tears fall unseen

  forming a net, keeping the world

  in its tightness

  burning, giving birth to storms..

  Can you see the tears in a mother's eyes

  when she's told she's not strong enough

  to handle a 'real' job?

  Can you see the tears in a father's eyes

  when what he earns is never enough

  to feed his hungry child?

  Stranger.. But who are you to judge, to know

  Their pain is like those dark clouds

  that cradle the thunders over your head,

  lifting up in the sultry air –

  can also be told by the deep lines

  carved in their harsh, hard-worked palms

  or the cheeks scarred by their

  incessant tears, which dried up in vain,

  forever in a quest for hope, justice

  fairness and equality?

  Natchai Leenders, The Netherlands

  The Answer is 62

  I take pages from the Hitchhiker's Guide to Planet Earth:

  The answer to life, universe and everything else is 62.

  When 62 men own half of Earth's capital,

  the situation's as bad as Vogon poetry.

  All they want is trillions, all we want is Trillians.

  They have the golden tickets and bars in Inequality Street.

  It makes me depressed like Rickman's robot,

  fo' got the news turned me into a paranoid android.

  But hey, if we have no ideas, we won't be swatted like flies.

  No! Don't forget to bring a towel, a vowel, a consonant

  for constant contemplating of the cons of capitalism.

  Average Arthur couldn't make a dent in the system

  in which we're supposed to be model citizens: Ford Prefect.

  Even Deep Thought can't answer this question:

  Which Douglas will dominate? Michael or Adams?

  The restaurant at the end of the world only serves fat cats.

  "So long and thanks for the fish that'll never be multiplied.

  And another thing.. demo-cracies, don't panic!

  Money, the root of all evil? It's mostly harmless!"

  Edward Kofi Louis, Ghana

  Creation

  With the Blue Planet made for mankind;

  And Eve was made out of Adam,

  For peace, unity and love!

  To share and care for the earth,

  But mankind grew up into another form!

  Coming out with greed to collect everything to his or her side.

  The ways of creation,

  Beginning with equality;

  Then came inequality!

  With a division seen between the Rich and the Poor today.

  The muse of inequality,

  Of a big question in our minds today!

  With the muse of life, leading to hatred and war in many ways;

  Because, one gets more than the others on this earth.

  Water!

  Many are still thirsty on earth today,

  Even though, the earth is full of water.

  Money!

  Many are still living with less than a Dollar a day;

  Seen mostly in what is called "Third World Countries" today.

  Food!

  With starvation all over the world;

  While Many go hungry and, Few control the Wealth of the Earth today.

  Tapera Makadho, Zimbabwe

  Border of Inequality

  Not by croco and hippo

  That ply the Limpopo

  With tooth and maw

  Nor by corsair and pirate

  That lurk dene and wood

  With knife and saw

  They had eluded fang and venom

  Of adder and of viper

  They had survived cuff and baton

  Of sarge and of sentry

  They had dodged mugger and robber

  Pestilence, and wave of the sea

  They had crossed unscathed

  To the city of Babylon

  But they erred

  They docked their ship

  Far from the Port of Equality

  They were asked to sing King Alpha's song

  A song they could not recite

  A song they coul
d not sing

  They met their maker

  In the flame and stone

  That consumed them

  Across the border of Inequality.

  Kenneth Maswabi, Botswana

  Mankind’s worst nightmare

  “And I saw a beast coming out of the sea

  It had ten horns and seven heads,

  With ten crowns on its horns,

  And on each head a blasphemous name”

  (Revelation 13:1)

  Inequality, the beast with many heads,

  Seven heads representing seven continents,

  Emerges from the sea of capitalism

  Nourished by the ashes of communism

  Drunk with blood from the cellars of colonialism

  Roams free in an unrepentant world

  Inequality, the beast with many horns,

  Breathes fire against the poor

  Wrecking havoc among the vulnerable

  Sinking them deep into the dark abyss

  Beyond the reaches of social safety nets

  Inequality, the beast with many crowns,

  Crowns created in the boardrooms of powerful nations

  Polished in the competitive world of capitalism

  Applauded by aristocrats

  Embraced by power hungry jackals in the bushes of Africa

  And by fire breathing dragons in the Far East jungles

  Pitting the West against the Rest

  The best against the worst

  The rich against the poor.

  Wilfred Mellers, USA

  Unequally We Stand

  Another victim of an unjust system falls

  Protected by ivory towers they build high walls

  Hands up without putting up any resistance

  Another bright light choked out of existence

  You can't run, you can't hide for they'll claim suicide

  Your life is wasted for blood they've tasted

  Hands up, face down, gunned down Mr. Brown

  Streets run red as a people being bled

  Ears now closed refusing to hear a word that is said

  To the fabric of time humanity we are the tread

  Children sacrificed to feed your insatiable greed

  Bent until broken bleeds the token seed

  Deceit spread like jam on wheat bread

  Negative the narrative imposed on the world widespread

  Gone the black lives matters truly many

  Enslaved we prayed to money for leaders we don't have any

  The great melting pot is not what we’ve got

  Speak your mind and you will be shot

  People being led by what they are told

  Racist beliefs they want to have and to hold

  Eyes wide shut while they are up to no good

  Vandalized and terrorized your impoverished neighborhood.

  __________

  Author's note:

  As a person of color I see inequality and bad treatment of people on a daily base, whether it is housing, education, jobs, legal affairs,.. Inequality and racism go hand in hand in America. I get so upset that I am a college educated man and yet as soon as I walk outside my door I am viewed as a villain by the system. There is nothing in America that is equal, but birth and death. Every day I see unequal treatment of people like me, by the police and the system. In my 53 years I have never experienced ‘equality’. You can tell it is a topic that I am very passionate about.

  Aphrodite-Anastasia Menegaki, Greece

  For the world’s one percent..

  Look at me, look me in the eye

  I’m the child with skin like coal

  With a hungry vulture waiting behind me

  And no one to stand beside me

  Take my picture show it to your people

  As they drink whisky, tell them we’re equal

  Tell them I died for their diamonds

  Look at me, look me in the eye

  I’m the child that worked at that scrap yard

  I’m the child that died on the rust of a wreck

  Cheap hands, no shoes, no parents left

  Somewhere far from you, a life theft

  Look at me, look me in the eye,

  I’m the child drown in the Aegean Sea

  For your wars made me a refugee

  Look at me, look me in the eye

  I’m the cheap hands you asked,

  The one behind your company’s mask

  I’m the child that died out of hunger

  I’m the mother who can’t hold her anger

  I’m the father who works each day

  I’m the soldier who’ll no longer obey

  I’m all the lives you’ve stolen

  I’m the people having no more to spend

  For the world’s one percent.

  Mallika Menon, India

  Weeds of Inequality

  I wish, if one day comes to..

  Proscribe worldwide atrocity entirely

  Omit the discrimination intensively

  Encourage and execute unity in diversity

  Thwart the gender pay gap effectually

  Restore peace through non-violence vehemently

  Yield a chance to stop many social bigotry

  Admix balance between the well-off and poor substantially

  Generate in us a well-tuned amity instead of enmity

  Aggregate all religions under one caste and creed invariably

  Inculcate each mind with meaning of equality

  Nurture new generation with expertise in creativity

  Serve the sick by ceasing hike in medicine cost so promptly

  Terminate terrorist with no bloodshed unanimously

  Impart equal rights to women as well cogently

  Negate curse of narcotics which leads to one’s non-entity

  Educate high and low classes to eradicate illiteracy

  Quell the crime of bribery on the spot instantly

  Undo malpractice of tax evasion systematically

  Advocate laws and rules that aid in human prosperity

  Lessen autarchy and fraud in politics stringently

  Inundate the underworld with virtues of humanity

  Trounce the thralldom with tactful tactics tactfully

  Yoke the politics with selflessness progressively

  ..but I know, that which prevails forever is indeed weeds of INEQUALITY.

  Leloudia Migdali, Greece

  A Dream in Disgrace

  It is a dream in disgrace

  Of the snaking evil

  To believe that ending glorious lands

  Hurling people into the abyss of poverty and struggle

  Freedom for all ruthlessly will bangle.

  It is a dream in disgrace

  Of the handful strayed souls

  To imagine that depriving homes of bread and pride

  Feeding vile fantasies with human pain

  The ruling of the world will obtain.

  It is a dream in disgrace

  Of the few dark- eyed vultures

  To challenge heavens that guards the right

  Blinding the sun, disrespecting the divine

  Justice on Earth will cruelly undermine.

  It is a dream in disgrace

  Of the shadowy dragons

  To cripple hopes for everyone’s share to happiness

  Feasting it all in their own time of lavish

  Cold and dark imbalance among people will establish.

  Because soon the missing shared power

  Of the people hammered to the ground

  Will find a way innocent preys get united

  Against all breeds of injustice

  Till equal rights for each and everyone are vividly bright.

  Asoke Kumar Mitra, India

  Inequality.. in some minds..

  Inequality is something that should be preserved.

  Else, who will wash the dirty linen? Who will wash

  sink full of used utensils?

  What if ever
yone is equal?

  Someone cherish Inequality.

  They are above of some millions, not in

  queues on footpaths, begging for food,

  Sleeping and scavenging..

  Someone cherish Inequality.

  Equality is not achievable. To create

  balance, there must be inequality..

  Inequality means two sides of the same coin:

  Inequality lies in equality,

  Inequality is the universal desire to be equal..

  Someone cherish Inequality.

  How difficult to change minds..

  Istvan Dan Uriel Molnar, Sweden

  Small Cute Shoes

  small feet with such a bruise

  and soft cheeks I woe

  smoke or burn to be clay

  expenses added up, every day

  and the grim, all the same

  it was no like homeland

  but some have beautiful life

  ownership and simple price

  the night sounds fast

  and sleeping with termites

  in damp forest of South

  be afraid of tiger to tear apart

  silence, small feet like flowers

  like tender and soft body

  under tall canopy of trees

  two bending, gentle cheeks.

  Souren Mondal, India

  Useless Bastards

  Slick, and wonderfully crafted

  The world works in mysterious ways

  Riches, become more rich

  and the poor sway away.

  Here in the dreams of the boy living in slums

  Sells the corporate a pizza to eat

  Where his mum's paratha's become none

  Murdered hopes,

  Mutilated daydreams at night

  Their bodies are wet in dew

  A car runs over them along the footpath.

  The dog and the child with a torn, black shirt

  No one mourns their death

  Let the mercedes crush the innocent daydreams at night

  Let the poor beg at stations

  We are as blind as the child

  who was blinded with acid

  To become the beggar that will supply money for drugs.

  Anitah Muwanguzi, Uganda

  Treasure Hunter

  She wobbles across the field, tears rushing down her face-

  tattered clothes, black matted coils of hair, a shadow

  face grubby, a dagger sticking out of her chest

  hands and feet bound in chains, visage stuffed in the clouds

  as with a last attempt to stay on her feet, she sinks into the earth

  a skeleton of flesh long gobbled away by anger, hunger, and disease,