Hashtags.
Used to promote to get more attraction to a desired cause
To create a movement , to even open doors
But - like most things it has its flaws
Used to manipulate for narrative control
Stories of real life trauma
Plastered on social media
To be auctioned of and sold
To the highest bidder- usually a politician
Their favourites, those that contain stories of racism
Not because they care
But for emotional manipulation
Used to make them look like a 'diverse hero'
Claiming to love everyone
Yet create policies for a mandatory stop and patrol
'Coincidentally' in only black neighbourhoods
Most hashtags aren't even harmful
If used for the greater good, it can be very useful
A way for slogans to become a movement
One example - #blacklivesmatter
To boost, to help go viral
To become a worldwide sensation
After all you can never have enough people
To tackle this centuries long issue
Yet human nature makes people resentful
When they aren't the centre of attention - when they aren't popular
Usually the oppressors, they can't stand feeling inferior
They'll twist a cause to suit their reputation
After all what's a campaign without deception
Love you shine day and night, sending your light into our thoughts.
Spreading your love with words, that sound kind and have some thought.
Like a director in a movie, your words echo with power, like a bird singing near the window.
That try to direct the listeners with the power of your voice, making all think twice, about who is naughty or nice.
Is it love or hate you direct, can it be you just want to catch.
Catch up the light, the power within, to use them up and then kick them in the end.
Sell them to the highest bidder, and let them go at your whim.
Love and light, are so beautiful, please hold them like a glass, and treasure each one with love and care, don’t drop them and break them to pieces.
Loves choose the path of love, and let the birds fly free, don’t cage them forever, let them be, if they fly home to you then it is meant to be.
True love, please even if you say they all belong to you, let them be free to pick and choose.
For in the end, God sees, he will be the one to shift through all of our deeds.
Lifting prayers to God, for all the ones that walk on a road home.
We've sold the White House
to the highest cash bidder ~
just pawns in the game
He came in dressed in black
and an ominous silence fell over the bidders
But there was no turning back
They had entered a vey dark realm
Then the bidding started
The bids got higher and higher
It reached a frenzied pitch.....
But the lady with sad eyes had made the highest bid
Silence fell over the room once more
as she stood up to claim her prize
How could she win,
When the auctioneer had just sold death to the highest bidder
I bid keeping my mind off the known calamity
A similar item year ago almost took my soul from me
It was only chump change, it didn't really matter
Pushing away the notions of the hearts that it would shatter
Another bidder and my confidence plummets
When suddenly last call blares out like trumpets
My demise in the form of a contract
Is swore and sealed by a pen that retracts
As candidate of popularity contest
In generating school fund was like a test
I’ve witnessed my parents' full support
Selling big grilled chicken was their last resort.
We got lots of visitors who came to bid
My dad pleaded, “Please do this for my kid!”
From ten thousand pesos, old men bid higher
Closed at fifty thousand, I was the winner!
At School Foundation Day, they crowned me queen
Teachers bought brooms, dust pans and garbage bins
We thanked the rich man for buying our chicken,
In returned, he asked us to court my dad’s sister, Len.
WHAT KATIE DID
Katie had jogged my elbow at the poker table
I tried to snatch back my chips but was unable
And I guess I was causing some sort of hiatus
A bet’s a bet, quite irrespective of one’s status
My pleadings were drowned out in that babel
Could I lose all that money sent over by cable
Other players showed no evidence of amity
Their gain will be my loss, and a real calamity
A bet once placed, is like making a contract
By now, any smile on my face had cracked
To regular rich punters a loss doesn’t matter
But for me, it’s my world that could shatter
I held my breath at the the fate I was dealt
All could clearly witness the pain that I felt
The highest bid that I had apparently made
My hand that must now have to be played
Perhaps the others thought I was a kidder
But it’s what a high bidder has to consider
Like every other young girl
She holds a dream, vast and bright
But born in a land of dark shadows
That hunt and silence dreams.
Tempted by a shinning chance
She seized it with both trembling hands
Unaware of the story on the next page
A huge decision at a tender age.
Chartered, restrained like a fragile glass
Sent to a land with deceiving masks.
Auctioned to the highest bidder
Made a cleaner, a toy for pleasure, a mother.
But she’s just a girl with a dream
A dream that will set her free
From the shadows that dim all light.
Motherhood was never part of the fight.
Day after day
And year after year,
As our life's stroll
Is being unfolded,
And our story is being told,
May we continue to be bold.
If we have to stand alone,
By God's unfailing grace,
May we bow to Him alone.
May we not allow our hearts
to grow bitter and cold. And may
we neither sell our souls to the Devil
nor to the highest bidder.
090924PS
Sand dunes erode away the meadows,
sunflowers turn to a shade of red,
sanguinary pool of limbs and skulls,
let’s swim here for the taste of the hue.
Burgundy pyramid upside down mini top,
spinning vortices of moon dust afloat,
the door opens, inside a hawk faced man,
he promises to tell me a story if I listen.
A large serpentine worm weaves bores,
pits on this apple of crimson skin,
a thick heavy glaze of caramel epoxy,
sold to the highest bidder in the fine coat.
Suspended I am trapped inside the terra firma,
innards flee rib cage, empty chest cavity hollow,
for my pulsate will be our guide back home,
grasp my staff waving follow me, there’s candy.
Elitist woman saw me and in that moment,
hourglass salt spun for her carrying six bosoms,
heaved for me as she moaned honey pleas stop,
I almost regretted drowning her and the twins.
They are,
Still in touch with reality
They Value logistics over statistics,
They ask the right questions.
They don't believe in a totally cashless society,
Their vision for the future includes a roadmap,
That leads to prosperity for more than 10.
They see People, Water and the environment,
As assets that should never be auctioned off to the highest bidder,
They see benefit in strong communities.
They never make cuts across the board,
They understand that some services should never be contracted out.
That due diligence in this day and age is a heavy responsibility,
And put extra time and resources into it.
They understand that most white collar crime increases when,
Staffing levels drop to a point where,
The temptation to borrow and pay back,
Without anyone being the wiser,
Seems risk free to more people than you think.
They don't believe in overtaxing children,
But see value in afterschool jobs.
They refuse to hire spin doctors.
Can’t resist the love I have
That comes from loving you
Promise me that - you’re true
Never to sell
To the highest bidder
Beautiful
Pointless
Painful
It’s so nerve racking
Promise me
Comfort me
Soothe me
Come and
Rape my
heart
Come and
Rape my
heart again
It’s the only way!!
She walks swaying hers hips
Propelled by the heeled shoes
Sound from the walk likened to a cat
Causing a stare, all eyes on her
Sisi Eko!! on the stage
Lipstick sticking like smudge
Eyelashes and makeup, rainbow
colours running riot.
Seduction art form, appearances
For the highest bidder.
Sisi Eko on the stage where she
Exhales the most.
Sisi Eko on the rampage holding
Sway.
(Written on the 9th of June, 2015)
I loved this opal ring instantly.
Began the bidding on eBay.
Thought I was getting it.
Another bidder jumped in.
Radical74.
He was fearless.
So was I.
We bid it up and up and up.
I bid it two hundred dollars past what I had decided would be my largest bid.
Finally giving it up.
In May I discovered that Radical74 was my daughter.
She had bought this ring for my birthday.
imagine there is a war and nobody goes
turns swords into ploughshares instead
builds homeless shelters instead of bunkers
shares toil freedom and land
resists grabbing power
dresses in peace flags and love
the silent majority does not wish
to be slaughtered on battle fields
to satisfy greed and corruption
and they have a say because
they are the masses
we the people need to find our voice
a choir of compassion
and pacifist canon
rhymed metered and tranquil
poetry in untroubled stance and
rhythm of caring intention
I was once a soldier
had sold my soul to the highest bidder
to finance studies and life style
which still leaves a sour taste on my vita
today I am a simple poet
with something to say
quietly walk away from aggression
and hope that my bubble will spread
imagine there is a heaven
and we can stop burning bridges
as well as bear the cross on our shoulders
31st January 2023
Related Poems