NO NEED TO WONDER

I often wonder

What it is that you see

As you look out

Through the double-glazed veneer

Of your privileged arrogance

And the insolence of entitlement

That frames your perception.

I often wonder

Who it is that you see

When you look

At someone like me

Proud and comfortable

In my skin

Of earth-tones and darkness.

Do you ever wonder

About a mind and a soul

Or a whole being beyond

The limits of all

You think you know

And the places you go

To get away from what surrounds you.

Do you ever wonder

About your complicity

In maintaining this status quo

And the inherent violence

That sustains this inequality

And the ingrained injustice

That you so conveniently ignore.

I sometimes wonder

About what it all means

Whether the purchased education

And material success

Has any substance

If it serves only to enhance the distance

Between your view and what is true.

But mostly there is

No need to wonder

The cause and effects

Blatantly apparent

The callousness abhorrent

The outlook remains myopic

This democracy is despotic.