What Happened to the Grown-Ups?

James Goddard has challenged me to share a new poem on Facebook every day, for five days. I'll see what I can do!

Day One

Look at all these infants who run the planet Earth,
Who play with toys like Oil, and War, and Banks with extra girth.
They all believe in discipline, but only for the poor.
What happened to the grown-ups, those people we ignore?

The neoliberal sandbox is low on H2O.
The aquifers are baking dry. "But all we need is dough!
Invest in US dollars, and bonds with extra junk!"
What happened to the grown-ups? Without them, we are sunk.

"We have to spy on citizens to keep the public safe.
We have to take your privacy, and all the rights that chafe
Against our quest for enemies. The enemies are YOU."
What happened to the grown-ups? We need their point of view.

Another white-boy killer! "So let's take down a flag."
But surely racist attitudes mean more than this old rag?
The problem, here, is people, not fabric on a post.
What happened to the grown-ups? We need them now, the most.

Drones and bombs and weaponry to wipe out every life;
A foreign policy that seems designed to bolster strife.
A culture of extinction, with no funds for survival.
What happened to the grown-ups? I long for their revival.