Scum

‘Scum: Possibly the worst word you can have
your name associated with.’
- The Urban Dictionary

More and more, now, I think of them
as scum – wealthy scum, powerful scum,
scum in suits; the Johnsons, the Goves,
the Trumps, the Prince Andrews,
the Putins, the ones 
I don’t know the names of 
who rule countries I’ve never heard of 
and will never visit.

Scum just used to mean low life -
drug pushers, murderers, rapists,
but, like the green stuff
that floats on stagnant pools,
scum is also what rises to the top
and floats above us
and looks down on us
and thinks it knows what’s best.