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Best Poems Written by Kevin Cummings

Below are the all-time best Kevin Cummings poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Kevin Cummings Poem

While I Wasnt Watching

While I wasn’t watching
A child was taught to hate
While I wasn’t watching
The hungry were told to wait
While I wasn’t watching
The future was betrayed
I finally looked and saw that a generation had lost its faith

While I wasn't watching
Another species died
While I wasn't watching
Another mother cried
While I wasn't watching
Another politician lied
I finally turned to look away and seek a place to hide

While I wasn’t watching
We settled into complacency
While I wasn’t watching
Dreams wandered aimlessly
While I wasn’t watching
The mirror waited patiently
I looked, but it was hard to see a path out of our apathy

While I wasn’t watching
The unknown became the enemy
While I wasn’t watching
Truth was sacrificed silently
While I wasn’t watching
I lost track of the good in me
I looked up, and saw that we have a shared destiny

Now that I’m watching
I must acknowledge the things I see
Now that I’m watching
What I was missing saddens me
Now that I’m watching
Can I help avoid another tragedy?
I see a chance to atone for my sins, and help restore sanity

Details | Kevin Cummings Poem

The Question

What kind of people are we?

Veterans sleeping and begging on the street
Children without enough food to eat
Elders unable to pay for the heat
What kind of people are we?

We build stadiums where heroes play games
Casting big shadows to cover forgotten names
But nothing is done to address the anger and shame
What kind of people are we?

We make decisions without regard for the damage they cause
We worship the grim reaper and deny any mention of his flaws
We are starring in Mouseland, repeating our ancestors flaws
What kind of people are we?

Someday we will answer, or maybe our children will
For turning away from our friends and relations in need
But rest assured an answer will be demanded

What kind of people are we?

Details | Kevin Cummings Poem

Listen to Your Heart

When you gonna wake up from - the nightmare we’re living in
You know the one I’m speaking of, it’s the one with the bitter end
You know you gotta lift your voice, raise it up loud and clear
You gotta make enough noise - that they cant help but hear

When you gonna step out from - the line you’re waiting in?
Their speeches have you feeling numb, they make excuses for their sins
What will you tell the children, when they’re tired, hungry and poor?
We’re not supposed to kill them, with our pollution, greed and war

Things won’t ever change
Unless we demand it
How did we let it get this way?
I don’t understand it
It’s not supposed to be this hard, to do what we know is smart 
We’ve failed with argument and logic, it’s time to listen to your heart

Details | Kevin Cummings Poem

Why is it

The long days spent languishing over someone else’s ideas and dreams leave me too worn out to visit my own.

Is it some sort of humor that I don’t get?

Memories of the times looking forward into the lights of the oncoming; I feel all those gone before, yet I'm still alone. 

The american dream, but unable to awaken yet.

Bright eyes of children holding on to every word as though it may truly give insight, but deeper looks are required.

A future set out, but the price is never fully explained.

Elders sifting memories and garbage, trying to find what it was that they left behind - hungry, abandoned and tired.

Somewhere a place must exist, where honesty is less strained.

I’ve never learned to dance when I can’t hear the music that the band is playing; tho I wish I could.

When I was younger I never thought it would be like this.

When the day is done you dread holding those long conversations with your thoughts, but wish it would do some good. 

In this time of plenty, and yet so much emptiness.

Details | Kevin Cummings Poem

epiphany

the morning begins like too many before it, the smell of the factory burns away the last remnants of the dreams i had when i was young

i bring effort enough to smile, offer "good mornin" to the others like me, and try to remember how this seemed like a good idea so many years ago 

i reach my station, alongside the co-worker that hums a dull tune of one note all day, and hang my head to play the part i've won

many days have passed, i hurt when i try to count the number, since i stood wide-eyed looking at a future that since went somewhere i don't know

i repeat the ballet, over and over and over, til the show ends and i can return to my place of solace where noone understands what i've done

i make it there, hardly damaged by my experience, look at the faces that welcome me, 

 

...and now i remember why i'm happy to do this

Details | Kevin Cummings Poem

Where have all the leaders gone

Where have all the leaders gone,
those whose words match how they act?
I mourn the death of honesty and sincere respect for fact.
What happened to religion, now it judges and teaches hate?
Jesus, Allah, Buddha nor Moses would recognize it today.
Why do profits mean more than people and other living things?
We treat the Earth as just a garbage dump, and ignore her as she screams.
Why is love viewed as a weakness, to be hidden, or only faked?
I long for open discussion that considers everything at stake. 
Why is war an acceptable answer to all the problems that we face?
The tapestry of our differences shouldn’t end the human race.
What will we tell the children who survive the hell we’ve made?
“I’m sorry” isn’t good enough, as they watch their future fade. 
Will we learn from all our past mistakes, and try to fix what’s wrong; or just sit by and slowly die - and wonder where have the leaders gone?