Legislators Are the New Mill Owners
JUSTICE
They stare out at us unsmiling
from tintypes of the first photographs,
from the tea-colored pictures
of thin, ragged immigrants, huddled
in cold bare rooms in tenements,
children clinging, dazed and frightened,
their paltry belongings tied in scarves.
They look out from pictures of dreary pioneers,
in front of sod houses without windows,
from grim photos of old, weary children
working in the mills and sweatshops
of the early nineteenth century.
We weep for the thousands who died
of poverty and disease and tell ourselves
how wonderfully the world has changed,
how we now can have fresh fruits
and a variety of vegetables year ‘round,
how there are miracle medicines
to keep us healthy and cure illnesses,
how homes are better built and heated,
Self-righteously, we smile at each other
while legislators we keep electing,
like the mill owners of old,
line their pockets greedily as they deny
raising the minimum wage to a living wage,
while they have the best health care,
paid for by the taxes of the many, but
vote to deny it to those whom they represent,
while they buy the finest of foodstuffs
and vote to cut allowances for food stamps.
Greed and hypocrisy still rule,
and we sit on our sofas with our blindfolds on
continuing to vote for lawmakers
who only care for their own elite,
scorning the poor, the ill, and the indigent
who often work at slave wages
to provide them with all that they have.
We pride ourselves on justice,
but, in reality, there is no justice.
Copyright © Barbara Peckham | Year Posted 2023
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment