The System Is Broken

Moon rise at Khula Dharma community, where I wrote this poem, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 2024

Wake up, cried the child 
Mum and Dad are like zombies 
Staring blankly at their screens 
Why won’t they play with me? 
Always claiming they’re too
They don’t hear my crying 
All I want is connection 
But all I feel is rejection 
They spend their days making money 
Tell me, “we can go out when it’s sunny” 
But those days roll around 
And they’re too tired, I’ve found 
So instead I sit and play 
And I pray that things will change  
As I slowly build walls around my heart 

Wake up, cried the sister 
I’ve got this tightness in my chest 
I can’t sleep, I’m depressed 
Why does no one understand me? 
I think I’ve got anxiety 
And no wonder, because we can’t see 
Touch, hear, taste anything real anymore 
Everything is supersized, supersonic 
Deepfake, photoshop 
I’m bombarded with new ways 
Of how I should change 
Botox, lip fillers and new boobs 
This is how to improve 
But I feel doomed 
Why don’t they want me, to just be me? 


Wake up, cried the brother 
I don’t know who I am 
The media tells me I’m toxic 
Am I really that sick? 
I’m told I’m inherently twisted 
Before I’ve had a chance to get my grip 
I didn’t have anyone to guide me 
Dad was always busy 
So I turned to the internet 
Like any normal person 
And what I found was awesome 
Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson 
Strong and wise men, voices of reason 
They teach me that I should treat women as property 
That women should call me, “your majesty” 
I use these men as my guides, my idols 
Because where else am I supposed to turn to? 


Wake up, cried the father 
Time is slipping through my fingers 
I love my children, 
But do I even know them? 
I earn the money, I win the bread 
But I’m going to end up dead 
Before I get the chance 
To belly laugh, or to dance 
To enjoy the fruits of my labour 
Or the fruits of my loins 
When did things start to shift? 
Or more, when did things all turn to shit? 
My kids just grunt and nod 
Think I’m an old sod 
With nothing to say 
And when I lay next to my wife at night 
She turns the other way 
They say money doesn’t buy happiness 
Except that, they kind of do? 
I feel I’ve been led astray… 


Wake up, cried the mother 
Time to wake the kids, start the morning 
But I’m tired 
I’m tired of cooking and cleaning,  
Of dusting and preening 
Of loads of washing 
Of the mental load 
My brain is weighed with lists and lists 
To do’s, to buys, “hey mum, where’s this?” 
I don’t have time to sit back 
To think, what do I want? 
There’s no time, for personal growth 
To grow gardens, repair clothes 
There’s no time to read, or even think 
What does the world outside my bubble need? 
I feel trapped between four walls 
Not a second for reprieve 
They say women can have it all 
But is this all, that there is? 


Wake up, cried the Grandmother 
I can see it all now 
I can see how we’ve just bowed 
Bent over to our masters 
And let these disasters unfold 
We closed our eyes 
When the kids in Africa cried 
Not mourning for their lives 
We turned our cheek 
When the politicians would speak 
Of economic growth, GDP 
Things that don’t measure happiness 
But we did not see, the duplicity 
We didn’t think anything wrong 
When they sprayed crops, all day long 
Pesticides and herbcides
No we did not try 
To change things 
As the forests lost their trees 
And the animals were forced to flee 
It was all in the name of advancement, and prosperity 

I can see it all now 
How we treat the cows, the sheep, even the baby chicks 
How we did not think a’miss 
When our children returned from school 
After following all the rules 
Void of imagination, creativity 
Of their individual eccentricities 
How we did not take issue 
With homelessness or inequality 
“If you just work hard, pay the bills 
We’ll look after you 
Don’t worry about the others, it’s their own fault” 
Just continue  
To be a cog in the wheel 
In the rat race that makes us lie and steal 
That makes us look the other way 
So that we can provide for our family another day 
I can see it all now  
And I feel sick to my core 


Wake up, cried the grandfather 
How I wish I was awake before 
God damn that capitalism 
The greatest hoodwink of them all 
It’s going to make us free, they said 
But in the end, it made us fall 
Fall, deep into depression 
Deep into recession 
Deep into a place where my granddaughter can’t breathe anymore 

Yes, the system was effective 
It pulled many out of poverty 
But we did not see the smoke screen 
We did not think to scream aloud 
When they stood up proud  
Told us our tax payer dollars would be spent on war 
Instead of hospitals, disability care,  
Or the things they swore  
they would 

Eat the rich, the young ones cry 
But we just sigh 
We return to our screens 
Hanging out for that dopamine 
We don’t spurn the rich, we revere them 
We treat them like Gods, their money is our religion 
Billionaires are our deities, celebrities, the almighty 
And we just assume 
That our purpose here is to consume 
What else are we good for? 
If not to fill the void of “more” 

Oh yes, the system was effective 
At drawing lines, building fences 
And it made us so angry, so tense 
We did not realise the consequence 
Of this nonsense called wealth 
That we were sacrificing our health 
That this life of ease  
Was really creating disease
That we were losing our community 
Our sense of unity 
We didn’t realise that what we were really building  
Was walls around our hearts 

The system was effective 
At making us numb 
And I feel dumb for not seeing it before 
For not trying to save my family 
Before the simple life becomes folklore