One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.

Plutocracy

Alicia Swain

In kitchens drops will drip, each brown in hue,

a mother will keep her son from the truth,

the senate will swear there’s nothing to do,

though they tout their care for the nation’s youth.

A man will cast his vote at ten to noon,

his ballot broken down in only two,

he lives inside a fading honeymoon

with good intentions, having not a clue:

disease inside him ticks just like a bomb,

one year from now the hospital will close,

he’ll find a plot to rest beside his mom,

if only congress told him how it goes.

Though women’s bodies know not rights of men,

thank God the rich can clutch their wealth again.

More from Alicia Swain ↓

1. @aliciamswain on Instagram
2. @aliciamswain on Substack
3. Her book, Steel Slides and Yellow Walls, is available now

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