Intellectual and Cultural Wasteland

The intellectual and cultural wasteland that is American, where dreams go to die,

And ideologies reign supreme,

And complacency gains steam.

Where anti-intellectualism runs rampant,

And we as a nation lament,

Through sorrowful wails,

We cry to no avail,

Poverty prevails,

Through corporations and bought and paid for politicians the oligarchy prevails.

Through the dumbing down of a nation the government achieves it means,

Through the will and ignorance of the people,

Politics preached through the steeple.

They have sold out your children and manipulate the masses to laugh at them as drown,

Tearing the future down,

You will never live on,

Your legacy dead and gone,

You are but a pawn in the game, democracy withdrawn.

The disaffected youth that doesn’t vote,

As we drink from the poisoned well and we choke.

A generation doomed to live in an eternal adolescence, A generation running in place like ghosts unable to move on,

A generation forlorn and forgone.

They slit their own throats as they line their pockets,

They barter tomorrow for today,

As the world looks on in dismay,

As our forests burn and our skies turn gray,

All that they do is delay,

The history books will have a lot to say,

On why they didn’t do what they should have done today,

But they tell us to pray.

Our American streets were never ever paved with gold, but they sure as hell are crumbling today.

Reviews

[aliceenamour]

This poem is very incisive and up-to-date.

[Jessica]

Thank you for the comment. There is a lot of anger in this poem, I was afraid that it would offend some people and that they would not like it as a result of that.

[Mitchell J.U.]

Well put. Just as empires of old, as history has foretold, like Rome or Babylon America one day will crumble. Its not a matter of how or even when its the fact of its inevitability. I too have vented similar sentiments as yours on this subject. "Hobo Soup" would commiserate with this well. Thanks for sharing your works and never stop writing!