by Mary Elizabeth Wissemann

Students joke of selling their organs,
Else college leave them with no money for mortgage.

Those who preach compassion: captured
To have their organs harvested from the living.

8 a.m. exams the only exposure to torture
While complaining of those across the border.

Nails ripped out without pain killers;
Beatings of the likes never seen in horror movies.

Sleep deprived by choice for movies and sleep
We follow the peaceful pattern shown to us like sheep.

Days on end with eyes forced open.
Sleep is only allowed for those who comply.

Booze and weed are everyday stress relief
“Work Hard, Play Hard” the only true belief.

Painful toxins injected into the blood.
No choice is made when you’re in chains.

Jokes of suicide seen as a medical concern,
Made only for the complaint of a struggle to learn.

Murder is hidden and crimeless,
So long as it’s performed by the government.

We think to have freedom here,
But blindness keeps enslavement near.
In the very place we pour money into,
The actions of so few have a clue.
We live our lives complaining of struggles
And all the work we have to juggle.
Yet not even our phones, a part of our souls
Without these people would be sold.
We enslave them without lack of action.
Yet can’t live without these people of compassion.

* * *

 

Recognized as an Honorable Mention in the college student category of FoFG’s 2018 Poetry Contest

Mary Elizabeth Wissemann is a student at Stevens Institute of Technology.