#141 For We Are The Middle Class

Celebrating Small Wins

Dec 10, 2023

Dearest,

I recently sent out a poem for the Wingword Poetry Competition, 2023.

I didn’t win. 🥲 But I got a mention. Apparently, there were over 1300 entries. So I will take the mention as a win! 😛

For today’s edition, I thought I will share the poem with you. Let me know what you make of it. 💗

For We Are the Middle Class

We lay down economic maps
on our laps every night,
and draw coordinates
to find ourselves,
forgeting how they move
like the staircases at Hogwarts,
for we are the middle class.

Our pride, however,
climbs onto a trains
that travels time,
dropping us off at Aristotle’s
who tells us
how important we are
for we know how to obey,
for we are the middle class.

We are the boiling frogs,
the ostrich with its head
buried in the sand,
staying in abusive relationships
with the sttae
for we know no other way,
for we are the middle class.

Our fate is forever sealed
in metaphors that we have stored
in airtight pickle containers,
washed and dried
on verandahs where we say
most of our goodbyes,
for we are the middle class.

Center of the fairness scale,
we are inconvenience to some,
but triumph to others
depending which side
you begin the count from,
for we are the middle class.

We live in moderation,
stock our hopes
in plastic bags
that we throw away, without rebellion
when asked politely,
for we are the middle class.

We have been making
lemonades from wedges
often squeezed before they are
thrown at us,
saying it tastes better that way,
for we are the middle class.

Our souls like our floors
have scratches from much scrubbing
and we wonder over a cuppa
if that’s clean or dirty,
for we are the middle class.

Our lives mimic bad TV
the sounds erupting thus
rattle the books
that we have stopped reading,
for we are the middle class.

We are the middle class,
and we won’t revolt
as long as the newspaper
is delivered at our door
on time.