Do I differ from a criminal
Is the difference minimal?
I want money, so does he
He just wants it more, you see
So much more that he takes it,
if there’s a rule, he breaks it,
builds himself rationalizations,
Tosses off justifications
We all rationalize,
dress our motives in disguise.
He feels entitled, so much nerve
But don't we feel we deserve?
Though we know its not right
We feel envy, rage, and spite
So maybe those knobs are turned up more
I'd like to ask him, but he'd be sore.
Is it a matter of degree?
Or is there a chasm between him and me.
Is it life's blows made him that way?
Was he moldable like clay?
Good men have done bad things
Like an angel that lost wings
Is there a lift to regain the crown
or is there just one way; and that way's down?
I come to you with one hand out
Open and up in my need
The other behind my back
Hidden in a fist of rage
Holds a blade, a bat, chain or gun.
I want my way
And if you do not agree
I will throw a fit
And take it however I can.
This is the ploy of a toddler
Grown into full size if not maturity.
I want my way
And will get it no matter what.
What’s that you say, “Go
And earn it, grow it, make it, use it, keep it”?
I have no idea what you mean
You cruel, cruel meany
And I will stay until you give it
One hand out and open
The other clenched and hidden.
(10/31/25)
I hate that I let people waste my time.
They'll clutter my head with busy chatter
and I let them unload their garbage.
They walk away without a clue
that they have defecated on my peace.
I keep thinking they'll get wise to it
but they never do and still I say nothing
but maybe just maybe today's the day...
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
i settle for the littlest scraps i can secure;
i settle for the littlest scraps, and even then they're hard to procure.
i kneel for the most jaded of hearts;
i kneel for the jaded hearts, even when my own is pierced through by stray darts.
i vouch for the blandest demeanors i can find;
i vouch for the bland and even then they don't find it in them to be kind.
why do i prolong my pain, you ask?
why do i not seek what's in it for my gain so I can bask?
there's something deeply ruined, flawed in entitlement
so i restrain to find the beauty in belittlement.
“Do you know who I am?” he cried
When showing up too late
To board his flight; Montana police
Were summoned to the gate.
United workers would not budge
Despite repeated threats
To call the corporate honchos,
Thinking they’d express regrets.
Instead, Ted Cruz was booked again
For later in the day
And lucky for us all
Entitlement was kept at bay.
Your life’s but a shadow
he’s a king of the earth
he’s secure in his place
he knows his own worth.
He‘s lacking all burdens
his smile merits bliss
by the King be commanded
you’re deemed worthy young miss.
The lady‘s so lucky,
as a rose meant for plucking,
this brawling, rough rogue,
- this heir to earths throne,
deems her worth the f—king.
I chuckle demurely,
“Be away drunken sir
- leave me to my studies
- go chase other skirts
with your fraternity buddies.”
.
.
boy, the weekend festivities seem to start Thursday afternoons on fraternity row.
Some act, sin surely meant, Ambition entitlement
Some act, sincerely meant, And bit shun entitlement
Some act, unruly deft, Some tact, and duly left
One say, entire verse, some say, and tire verse
All I ever wanted was to shine.
But I deemed my light by not saying what needed to be said
Not to my narcissistic mother and neglective father
Not to my toxic and untrustworthy friends
Not to my bully at school
Not to that teacher whom always underestimated me
Not to my emotionally unavailable ex boyfriend
Not to judgey church members
Not to a “bestie" who ghosts me
Not to my junkie uncle whom I have nightmares over every night
I needed to tell me the truth,
That nobody owes me a thing .
Just because my childhood was a mess ,
I wasn't entitled a great adulthood .
Drowning in self-pity would actually be my biggest betrayal
Now I’m sitting here in shambles hoping no one remembers that A+ girl from high school
I watch as life plays slideshows of my school mate's successes
And all I think about is how I just gave up on myself simple because I've been mistreated
And somehow think that mother Universe owes me for such a life.
If I could turn back the time, I would whisper to my younger self
“no to self pity, no to entitlements and no , nobody owes you a good life, you create it yourself”.
Cop core culture cultivates racist malevolence,
The profiling pseudoscience.
Cop core contempt, rogue roving terrorists in blue,
Sadists through and through.
Cop core combatants harass, torture, then kill,
Another handcuffed man choked still.
Cop core cruelty depraved indifference to the defenseless.
This story of brutality is relentless.
Cop core criminal entitlement to murder at will,
The face of oppressive evil.
Published: Dissident Voice 11/29/20
for those of us
who grew up
on the farm
rammed down our throats
that there’s no such thing
as a free lunch
still keeping our nose
tightly to the grind
such days bursting now
with youth's feelings of entitlement
reaching extremities beyond
our boggled comprehension
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
==============================
out back of the barn
I watch you hitch a wagon
to the fine draft mare
your last harvest bought
'tis I would be behind her,
had I seen her first
(and had I a cart)
while you travel in comfort,
I ruin my good feet
why should she be yours??
==============================
Written: 10/28/2018
Contest: Seven Deadly Sins
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
I am not amazed he lost both sight and fight
She walked unfettered into calm
In "Paris Blues" one peach-clad pussycat was pursued
The Proprietor's goal lacked glitter
Historically, he knew better
She departed
He felt the blues
He wore imaginary badge of entitlement
and breathe air of pseudo pride
She read his lips, looked him in the eyes
Then smiled her clairvoyant smile
His words were weighed on scale Source
She sat snug with fuel from the Source
She knew lighthouses affording light that guides
They were transparent with genuine streaks
Should entitlement be legalized?
One fine day, more folks will cut the crap
They'll stop getting what they've got
crippling the crippled now stats
The dumb, the deaf, the blind is made new
What goal of goal beckons you?
*
Self entitlement is the bane of issues
etched in stone
hand written
in times of great happiness
sadly in great times of more bleak emotions
our self given self entitled righteousness
is stripped clean and drug through the mud
leaving us empty and cold
thirsting for things we cannot have
this is the lose of our sanity at the beginning of the end
If I had but a wish
A reward greater than heaven
I would give
However, must you demand?
The Elephant ask that we leave them in peace
The seal asks us to lower the club
The trees ask for more time
But you ask for the world
The cold and weary ask for a blanket and a place to rest
The hungry ask for just a morsel
The abused ask for safe passage
You demand the world
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.