social commentary
There's a rich history of poetry serving as social commentary, intended to inspire calls to action.
I Saw an Old Man
Follow along daily as I build out this rhyme. As of September 1 I've posted up to Part five on Threads, and I'm adding to it each day. I've combined it with a daily countdown that I've maintained since January 2025. __________ I saw an old man who thought we swallowed his lies I don't know why he just feeds us lies perhaps I'll try
By Judey Kalchik 2 months ago in Poets
Am I Beautiful Yet?
🖤 I starved myself from one fifty down to eighty four They said that I'd be beautiful if I lost a little more 🖤 I kneeled above the toilet bowl and choked until I bled Exhausted, hollow, shaking with a poison in my head 🖤 I bought the fake extensions to fill out my 'too fine' hair I painted on a smile to cover up despair 🖤 I injected the Ozempic to erase that final meal I prayed the pills would numb the pain they told me not to feel 🖤 They told me, "Love your body!" in a filtered beauty ad while selling me a diet plan for every extra pound I had 🖤 They yap about acceptance while they measure every inch and profit off our quiet tears They never even flinch 🖤 Am I beautiful yet? 🖤 They want a tiny, cinched-in waist but giant hips and bust a contradiction carved in flesh to satisfy their lust 🖤 Go slice your stomach, suck the fat make your cheek bones high filter every photograph and live a fucking lie 🖤 Glue on the lashes! Bleach your teeth! Go paralyze your brow! Smooth out the wrinkles on your skin! You're oh so beautiful now! 🖤 Wait! Shave off the hair! Erase your pores! Don't let a texture show! If you break some capillaries, it will give you a 'natural glow'! 🖤 Drop down a size... but keep the curves! Don't age a single day! You can look young forever... if you're willing to pay 🖤 Don't eat that! It's bad for you! Drink protein shakes instead! No, you are not hungry! Skip dinner! Go to bed! 🖤 Am I beautiful yet? 🖤 Girls gagging on the glamour while they purge upon the floor corpses wrapped in lace and pink and they keep pushing us for more 🖤 Stomachs roar in agony hearts begin to skip while they rub toxic plumper on a bleeding, swollen lip 🖤 We're counting calories in ice and counting steps we walk while we get torn down by the cruel way that they talk 🖤 If you're big, you're lazy but if you're thin, you're sick they set the trap and wait for us to fall for every trick 🖤 Wrap your waist in corsets till your ribs begin to crack inject the filler in the jaw and straighten up your back 🖤 Tuck in the skin, lift up the breasts be sure and eat your kale! Buy your way to Paradise by living in a hell 🖤 Am I beautiful yet? 🖤 Keep going! Almost there! Just sacrifice your health A billion dollar industry just growing in their wealth 🖤 They sell the cure for bullshit that they manufacture first and leave us dying in the dust consuming our own thirst 🖤 She broke her bones. She cut her skin She threw up every bite She faded out to nothing in the middle of the night 🖤 She gave you every ounce of flesh and bowed to your decree Then you laughed at her for saying, "There's nothing left of me" 🖤 Is she beautiful yet? 🖤
By Sara Wilson2 months ago in Poets
Contradictive
IQ is just a number One employers never Require No one even cares to Hear it Why is it tested or Falsely admired? Jumping for joy Is not allowed In polite society No matter how high aloft This false virtue is Held in films and Commercials for beer or Ladies-only shaving goo
By K.B. Silver 2 months ago in Poets
The Great Fight. Top Story - September 2026.
For nearly two decades, I lived with a weight crushing my spirit. That beast we call suicidal ideation would gnaw on my neurons taking bites big enough to choke on leaving intrusive thought remnants in its wake. I'm not sure one can fully understand the gravity of waking every morning years on end feeling disappointed that they awoke at all until they've lived it, breathed it in with morning sunlight, become it with every aching bone and muscle of a body begging to just give up. Until then, you can only imagine. Likewise, on the other side of such unnameable sadness, you can't truly comprehend the ecstacy within me when I can finally say, "I am happy right now," because no one knows how I burnt down to the ground, my innards charred to a crisp with every phase of moon. Only I was witness to my bare hands cupping ash and pressing inward until diamond bricks emerged for me to lay my foundation with. Blood and sweat and tears poured from me like a rusty faucet, tendons ripped femurs snapped for me to be able to climb and reach this current perspective worthy of so many wows, it was not an easy battle. But it is absolutely possible to survive your own mental warfare. You must simply be a warrior with love for your own survival.
By Lolly Vieira2 months ago in Poets
