Life Isn’t Fair | Craig Kurtz

Have you ever noticed, friend, that life just isn’t fair?
People are not equal; only losers really care.
Some folks take a coach-and-six and others simply walk;
there’s those who till the earth all day while others sit and talk;
some people go to college and others yet are soldiers
and how this all gets sorted out, there aren’t cogent answers;
first-born sons are born to wealth, the youngers must have wit,
unless they’re children of peasants, in that case it’s tough shit;
some people have religions to explain the way life works;
whatever rationale you choose will justify your perks;
almost everyone agrees that someone is to blame
for why things are not better, and that’s why things stay the same;
some people are born lucky and possessing pulchritude,
while others lose hair or get fat, how else should they be viewed?;
some people have a Midas touch and prosper in business
while those who don’t, those communists, proffer exegesis;
some people make some bad judgments, while those who don’t exult;
unhappy people tend to find the happy ones at fault;
some people are blessed by fortune, they disavow bad breaks,
while those who can’t afford any would outlaw ale and cakes;
some people think equality would improve their lives’ lot;
equality’s always defined by what we haven’t got.
So! Though it pains me saying it, life just isn’t fair,
and those demanding fairness would decide what you should share.

Craig Kurtz has vexed the intelligentsia since the 1981 release of The Philosophic Collage. Recent work appears in Dalhousie Review, Seventh Quarry, Sheepshead Review, The Society of Classical Poets anthology 2016 and Tower Poetry; many others would just as soon string him up. He resides at Twin Oaks Intentional Community.