Economic Apartheid
i.
The ground grows more populous
and the wealthy don’t see
the hustle and bustle from their glittering,
sun-filled vistas
estates built on ivory, cobalt,
blood diamonds,
and the bones of the poor
those very bones who with a secret word
and a weight-laden yoke
built their monuments to paradise,
vast, solar-powered estates in the sky
“We are eco-conscious!” the rich love to claim.
“We live sustainably!”
Forgetting the convenience of their exploitation
while gazing at rainbow refractions
from acid clouds far below
a beautiful distraction from problems
they cannot clearly recall
without changing their stories
all while speed-dialling their attorneys
Billable by the hour is just a game
when money isn’t real
and of so very little consequence
just how high can their asset portfolio climb?
(there is no limit.)
What is money?
such an archaic word
when you own the word and control all within it
The proles need no sunshine,
on the ground they remain
as the affluent thrive above,
entrenched
in their revisionist histories
the world left below, abandoned
to suffocate
crushed by the weight of colonial,
capitalist pride
Why would they care, why would they mind
Under this economic apartheid
ii.
Free falling towards memory found only in
history books and antiquated monuments of yore
White-washed in lies and laundered by
the censorship of multinational conglomerates
and shell corporations—
Information provided behind inaccessible paywalls
currency the cost with no promise of Truth
the irony that “you get what you pay for”
only to receive disinformation, conspiracies,
rubbish better served
in a bin than a brain
One day not long from now,
people will praise the war crimes
committed against them by their oppressors
in the name of natural resource extraction
and well-funded lobby groups
serving to profit from the eternal war machine –
Meanwhile,
adults scream as they are crushed to death
by medical debt
and children lose their lives
riddled by
shells and casings and eternal terror
fully-automated panic buttons at your service
eyes cast away
while the real crimes take place
and the world poisons us
with the instruments
of our own engineering
Fill up the sinking boat
and drop the sails
as bodies fill polluted rivers
and plastic-choked oceans
infected by the fruits of
indenturement and slave labor—
But we don’t care, we really don’t mind,
Bitumen is ready to serve, and LNG too
White collars winning
their green paper prize
while blue collars wither
and crumble to dust
there is no karma or justice
to be found here
Government-sponsored terrorism is fine
Under this economic apartheid
iii.
Under the crown of capitalism
Only the ultra-rich are spared
from the eternal yoke
while playgrounds are bulldozed
in the name of corporate high-rises
replete with multi-million dollar
office spaces with a view
so the affluent can have an easy view,
staring down their noses at the poor
ever casting blame for their so-called
carbon footprint
while those with means
travel to and from work in private jets
and greed is ruled and executed by the rich
In this developing epoch,
children now play among the dead
fields of headstones cease to be
replaces with stones and no names
just a plot and a number
(if you are lucky enough to afford it)—
green spaces exist no more
only turf and desecration—
Middle class driven into myth by inflation rates,
foreclosures,
and rising sea levels
The earth goes to sleep,
a pollution-induced coma
made certain by
those in power refusing to
be accountable to
what they have wrought
upon the only world we have
Empowered by greed
to disregard fiscal
and environmental responsibility
(as long as that black gold can be extracted,
who cares?)
But I don’t care, I no longer mind
the human race can finally be washed away
and perhaps the earth can wake with a deep breath
free of this economic apartheid