The Problem Poem by Raymond Farrell

There are people
across this vast continent
who have no voice
some sit homeless
on the street corner
in full view
others are in back waters and bayous
in obscure forgotten places
trying to put bread on the table
and clothes on their children's backs
this is the reality for too many
meanwhile the poetic establishment
talks to itself
in increasingly incomprehensible terms
unwittingly the government
pores money down this rat hole
and MFA programs bloom
across the land
unnecessary as ragweed
in your vegetable patch
more and more wanna be poets
graduate and get their Mcpoems
published in establishment journals
this incestuous orgy goes on and on
but the greater public
no longer read poetry
because they cannot comprehend
what the establishment is passing off as poetry
if there ever was a time in history
plain spokenness was needed
on the part of poets everywhere
it is now
the only way to stop
this insane merry go round
is to quit taking
the people's hard earned money
and giving it to the literary establishment
lets just stop this poetic welfare
once and for all
let them actually earn their own money
if they have something worthwhile to say
people will buy their books
if they don't
then they should do something else for a living
and quit living off the public
like a bunch of parasites.