The dream is dead, since the sixties
Turned to the seventies, nice and sleazy
Endless wars processed the hippies and pixies
Economic vandals left a peace uneasy
Was it in our name, the forever fight for peace?
Did we ever question what’s going on here?
The grabs for land then returned for lease
The struggle for survival, a punishment severe
Can the decks be cleared with genocide?
The algorithms are running the numbers
There’s no longer a place to hide
And we’re left holding only clunkers
Sign away our lives with disappearing ink
Fingers crossed and handshakes informal
Accustomed to shit we no longer smell the stink
This is the new normal – abnormal
Submitted to Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Uneasy, Weekend Writing Prompt #378 – Severe (though not 18 words – I always forget that there’s a word limit in Sammi’s prompts!), Monday Poetry Prompt: Abnormal and Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge – Clunkers. This could also be submitted to dVerse – stormy weather but I already submitted another poem to that.
1994ever 
Thanks for writing to my little prompt. I especially liked your final stanza.
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Thank you. I enjoyed writing this. I also had in mind the prompt from dVerse about ‘stormy weather’ and the current state of the world.
https://dversepoets.com/2024/08/27/poetics-stormy-weather/
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An insightful and thought provoking poem. Thank you for shaaring.
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Thanks Gerry🙏
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New normal – abnormal…very true.
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I like the last verse, too, but don’t tell anyone! I could be thrown out of the Aunts Union!
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I’m sure the Aunties are alright!
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Yeah. (Sigh.)
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It’s always 1984 somewhere.
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Nicely written but I really don’t like the new normal.
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I have no answers…
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How well put! We live in the times of the glorification of the abnormal, the bizarre, the trite, the excessive, the unholy, the age of selfishness and wasted extravagance. Fortunately there are still some of us that dare to challenge the “normality” of the new normal abnormal…
Nick – Intelliblog
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Do what you can.
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I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard we were facing an unprecedented situation. Then I’d have enough nickels to buy a senator or two.
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Perhaps they meant ‘unpresidented’!
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Who could disagree with you. The will of the people….we have power but it is necessary to be unified collaborate and self sacrifice with effort and determination….
yes I hear what you’re thinking….
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Divided and conquered. ‘We’ have no power. The future is revolting!
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Wonderful musings and so beautifully penned – Jae
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Thank you Jae 🙏
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I feel the elusiveness of honest, caring power today, I’m fearful of turning on the news each morning. Your poem is strong, I enjoyed it. It is real.
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It’s there, just in other countries.
Thanks Helen 🙏
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So true, and so frightening.
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