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Ballad for the Poor

Primetime TV is asinine;

Intellectual cyanide.

Empty like a home in Palestine,

And corrosive like an alkaline:

It's the software for the poor.

Subliminally shutting your doors

Of perception,

While they pump the town full of more --

More liquor stores

And two cent ******

Deadbolted doors

Adorned with gang graffiti

Where the government ignores.

So how can I sleep

When all these kids never eat?

And where's the sweeps

For the bodies in the streets?

They'll just pour more concrete

Over our homes.

Gentrified zones,

Minorities in tow.

High interest loans.

Money's dried up,

Foreclosure and drones

Dropping tear gas on the protesters;

Arresting anyone not in their homes

Please tell me, how can I atone

For the sins of a system

That riddles the world with victims?

This is the modern vista

The ghetto is everywhere

The aftermath of an affair

Between the elite

And their federal clientele.

Predatory lending,

Bailouts, drop outs,

A culture without.

Humanitarian drought.

Where's the empathy?

The love?

The care and clemency?

A solution for this endemic peasantry?

Man, I wish I knew.

I wish the numbers weren't true,

And I wish the sunrise brought a nice view,

Instead of billboards and condemned buildings,

Abandoned homes, potholes, **** and trash:

The ashes of a golden age long past.

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Written by
forrest-jorgensen
American
Published
Apr 21, 2015
Lines·Words
48·215
Notes

This is actually more of a rap/lyrical flow than a poem. I recommend reading it as if it has a beat.

Tags
#life#struggle#lyric
Permission

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Tell forrest-jorgensen how you would like to use it. We review requests before forwarding them.

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