Poems about Poverty
#poverty
Poems about poverty, here you'll find poetry about poverty, debt and hardship. Poems about struggling to survive due to lack of money. Poems about personal hardship and poetry about inequality in society, and life in slums and ghettos.
Vision_of_insanity
Poem Published
Yesterday 10:25am
Yesterday 10:25am
Fight to live
Eighteen dollars to her name
Can’t survive, it’s all the same
In need of food for her kids
Drugs & booze the way she lives
No ambition to get a job
Unless it’s slobbing on someone’s knob
How much lower can you go
You’ll be remembered as a filthy ho
You must fight to live
You must fight to live
You must fight to live
Inside your fucked up selfish mind
Sleazy strip malls is where you hang
Beware the rats with long sharp fangs
Behind the store to get your fix
Fever ignored, getting real sick
...
Can’t survive, it’s all the same
In need of food for her kids
Drugs & booze the way she lives
No ambition to get a job
Unless it’s slobbing on someone’s knob
How much lower can you go
You’ll be remembered as a filthy ho
You must fight to live
You must fight to live
You must fight to live
Inside your fucked up selfish mind
Sleazy strip malls is where you hang
Beware the rats with long sharp fangs
Behind the store to get your fix
Fever ignored, getting real sick
...
#addiction
#children
#drugs
#lyrics
#poverty
43 reads
8 Comments
Vision_of_insanity
Poem Published
7th Apr 2025 9:02pm
7th Apr 2025 9:02pm
She Didn't Want To Go Home
She was the woman with no name
She came in when they were leaving their offices to go home for the day
Some of the staff tried to be polite and say hello in passing
She never said a word back
She would look at the floor and nod slightly
She was there to clean, that's all
She knew the truth
The truth was that none of these people would give her the time of day if she was outside the building
None of these people would ever be caught dead in her neighborhood
They all made more money in one day then she did in a week
She liked it best...
She came in when they were leaving their offices to go home for the day
Some of the staff tried to be polite and say hello in passing
She never said a word back
She would look at the floor and nod slightly
She was there to clean, that's all
She knew the truth
The truth was that none of these people would give her the time of day if she was outside the building
None of these people would ever be caught dead in her neighborhood
They all made more money in one day then she did in a week
She liked it best...
#disappointment
#dreams
#job
#poverty
#sadness
59 reads
6 Comments
goldenmyst
Poem Published
7th Apr 2025 8:33am
7th Apr 2025 8:33am
Autumn in America
Autumn in America
Operatic Gospels
Are plagiarized from Hebrew legends
To sell Papal Ponzi schemes
To penetrate easter eggs into embryonic misogyny
With the premature TV evangelism of bearded patriarchs
Who preach to death row inmates
On the sanctity of life
And on the streets
Derelict prophets give sermons
To Armani clad business men
On giving alms to the poor
While poets in their garrets
Write sonnets in the autumnal light
Of the American sunset
Operatic Gospels
Are plagiarized from Hebrew legends
To sell Papal Ponzi schemes
To penetrate easter eggs into embryonic misogyny
With the premature TV evangelism of bearded patriarchs
Who preach to death row inmates
On the sanctity of life
And on the streets
Derelict prophets give sermons
To Armani clad business men
On giving alms to the poor
While poets in their garrets
Write sonnets in the autumnal light
Of the American sunset
#America
#apocalypse
#city
#poverty
#religion
39 reads
2 Comments
Indie
Miss Indie
Miss Indie
Poem Published
3rd Apr 2025 7:53am
3rd Apr 2025 7:53am
they call the train station crack central (home town observations)
A pigeon was scavenging scraps
along the edge of the drive-thru
while we were waiting in line
for coffee and fries
and I imagined it pecking
on every car door
asking if we had any potato
and salt to spare
The people 'round here
aren't that much different
to that small grey pigeon
scavenging for scraps
and shiny things left on the ground
...
There's a family of shopping trolleys
around the corner from my house
that are filled with molding rubbish
It's only a matter of...
along the edge of the drive-thru
while we were waiting in line
for coffee and fries
and I imagined it pecking
on every car door
asking if we had any potato
and salt to spare
The people 'round here
aren't that much different
to that small grey pigeon
scavenging for scraps
and shiny things left on the ground
...
There's a family of shopping trolleys
around the corner from my house
that are filled with molding rubbish
It's only a matter of...
#addiction
#homelessness
#LifeStruggles #poverty
#LifeStruggles #poverty
69 reads
2 Comments
Knotshaker
Poem Published
17th Mar 2025 2:36pm
17th Mar 2025 2:36pm
The Real Enemy
You’d best chain those super-rich before they chain you.
But oh, my dears, you’re too busy fussing and fighting
with each other to take notice of what they’re up to.
They’ve got all the money.
Or they’ve got control of all the money.
They—or the public relations strategists who work for them—
started all the fusses, all the fights.
They set all the fires.
And you got spooked, hooked, hoodwinked by one or more of the various traumas
they’ve cooked up to distract you,
the various conflagrations they’ve arsoned—real or...
But oh, my dears, you’re too busy fussing and fighting
with each other to take notice of what they’re up to.
They’ve got all the money.
Or they’ve got control of all the money.
They—or the public relations strategists who work for them—
started all the fusses, all the fights.
They set all the fires.
And you got spooked, hooked, hoodwinked by one or more of the various traumas
they’ve cooked up to distract you,
the various conflagrations they’ve arsoned—real or...
#corruption
#greed
#inequality
#politics
#poverty
61 reads
1 Comment
PAR
Poem Published
9th Mar 2025 3:00pm
9th Mar 2025 3:00pm
Presumed hunger
Premeditated situations
and pre-cooked annihilations.
Preheated eliminations,
precepts, losses, predators,
nothing changes the colors of poverty.
Chameleons are the rich ones
and they change, change color
and change again to a color they don't have.
The rich eat poverty for breakfast
so let's change directions,
change emotions,
and let's eat the rich
even though the rich are poor
in nutrients and proteins.
Since they have many colors,
we will eat them with our eyes
and season them...
and pre-cooked annihilations.
Preheated eliminations,
precepts, losses, predators,
nothing changes the colors of poverty.
Chameleons are the rich ones
and they change, change color
and change again to a color they don't have.
The rich eat poverty for breakfast
so let's change directions,
change emotions,
and let's eat the rich
even though the rich are poor
in nutrients and proteins.
Since they have many colors,
we will eat them with our eyes
and season them...
#corruption
#death
#greed
#illness
#poverty
114 reads
8 Comments
Wordsmith
Poem Published
5th Mar 2025 9:38pm
5th Mar 2025 9:38pm
How The Mighty Had Fallen
Oh; how the mighty had fallen
Once a lion; now barely crawling
A land where rivers of wealth once flowed
Now cracked with hunger; dreams corrode
They sold our gold for a bowl of dust
Fed us lies and broke our trust
Once the Giant; tall and proud
Now we kneel; heads bowed
The king feasts while beggars wail
The throne is built on chains and nails
They buy mansions across the sea
While we drown in poverty
They raise the tax; inflate the price
Turn our sweat to sacrifice
A day's wage won’t buy a meal ...
Once a lion; now barely crawling
A land where rivers of wealth once flowed
Now cracked with hunger; dreams corrode
They sold our gold for a bowl of dust
Fed us lies and broke our trust
Once the Giant; tall and proud
Now we kneel; heads bowed
The king feasts while beggars wail
The throne is built on chains and nails
They buy mansions across the sea
While we drown in poverty
They raise the tax; inflate the price
Turn our sweat to sacrifice
A day's wage won’t buy a meal ...
#Africa
#corruption
#greed #poverty
#greed #poverty
91 reads
1 Comment
Abracadabra
Poem Published
27th Feb 2025 5:47am
27th Feb 2025 5:47am
Two Worlds
My shopping list:
organic carrots
purple sprouting broccoli
sweet potatoes
salmon fillets
manuka honey
chocolate eclairs
Her shopping list:
two handfuls of rice
& water
from the well.
organic carrots
purple sprouting broccoli
sweet potatoes
salmon fillets
manuka honey
chocolate eclairs
Her shopping list:
two handfuls of rice
& water
from the well.
#inequality
#poverty
#unicorns
80 reads
1 Comment
Vision_of_insanity
Poem Published
26th Feb 2025 11:28pm
26th Feb 2025 11:28pm
Little Girl With A Purpose
I see that little girl everyday
She always runs to wherever she's going
Xmas came and left her with a bike
Now she rides up & down the street
It seems she never gets tired
She always plays by herself
I saw her the other day standing with her bike next to all these other kids who were much older than she
She wasn't even paying attention to them
She was standing there because they were
The older ones were smoking and talking a bunch of loud mouthed shit
All at once she got on her bike and sped away like she had some important place to be ...
She always runs to wherever she's going
Xmas came and left her with a bike
Now she rides up & down the street
It seems she never gets tired
She always plays by herself
I saw her the other day standing with her bike next to all these other kids who were much older than she
She wasn't even paying attention to them
She was standing there because they were
The older ones were smoking and talking a bunch of loud mouthed shit
All at once she got on her bike and sped away like she had some important place to be ...
#children
#drugs
#hope
#motivational
#poverty
150 reads
19 Comments
Indie
Miss Indie
Miss Indie
Poem Published
16th Feb 2025 10:36pm
16th Feb 2025 10:36pm
these city streets (and 20 years)
1. 2004 Winter
Nineteen
a lady gave me her neon yellow sweater
on my way out of detox
she heard I was about to be homeless
and didn't want me to be frozen
to the spit stained pavement
before I had a chance
to live through the night
The detox centre
didn't care where I ended up
my week was over
and the rest was up to me
I'd been turned down
by 3 rehab centres that day
and didn't know where
I was going to sleep
I cried into fuzzy yellow
and made frenzied phone calls
a handful...
Nineteen
a lady gave me her neon yellow sweater
on my way out of detox
she heard I was about to be homeless
and didn't want me to be frozen
to the spit stained pavement
before I had a chance
to live through the night
The detox centre
didn't care where I ended up
my week was over
and the rest was up to me
I'd been turned down
by 3 rehab centres that day
and didn't know where
I was going to sleep
I cried into fuzzy yellow
and made frenzied phone calls
a handful...
#homelessness
#hope
#poverty
113 reads
3 Comments
PAR
Poem Published
10th Feb 2025 12:53pm
10th Feb 2025 12:53pm
Tropical Paradises
The aboriginal
is naked…
Ah! Oh!
We can see it
from north to south.
We can go around it
in a deep blue sky.
Devour his flesh
with gluttony.
cannibalize it!
cannibalize it!
Let's be quiet
let's do silence
with a full mouth of
the aboriginal's nudity
and our sour grapes.
Let's canibalize!
is naked…
Ah! Oh!
We can see it
from north to south.
We can go around it
in a deep blue sky.
Devour his flesh
with gluttony.
cannibalize it!
cannibalize it!
Let's be quiet
let's do silence
with a full mouth of
the aboriginal's nudity
and our sour grapes.
Let's canibalize!
#corruption
#greed
#politics
#poverty
#rebellion
102 reads
11 Comments
Indie
Miss Indie
Miss Indie
Poem Published
30th Jan 2025 11:39pm
30th Jan 2025 11:39pm
don't look down, you might find a mirror
You walk around these streets
like you didn't come from nothing
like there's no ghetto left
in your veins
You asked me if I saw the junkie's
with a new born that just moved in
a few doors down
I know who you're talking about
but I didn't look at them
and think "junkie"
when I saw them
And maybe I'm the one who's naive
or maybe I don't look at poverty
and think they must be drug addicts
because you don't need to be poor
to have problems
you just have to be poor with problems ...
like you didn't come from nothing
like there's no ghetto left
in your veins
You asked me if I saw the junkie's
with a new born that just moved in
a few doors down
I know who you're talking about
but I didn't look at them
and think "junkie"
when I saw them
And maybe I'm the one who's naive
or maybe I don't look at poverty
and think they must be drug addicts
because you don't need to be poor
to have problems
you just have to be poor with problems ...
#addiction
#hypocrisy
#poverty
181 reads
10 Comments
DU Poetry : Poems about Poverty
