So this is
What we’ve become,
Or have always been
But hid for a while,
A land where
It’s acceptable
To put people down
Because you’re
Scared of change or
Anything that’s different,
A place where
The crushing weight of
Authority imposes
Its will and is welcomed
By far too many.
It’s far easier to
Say that those living in
Poverty are somehow
Flawed, lazy, deserving
Of their plight, than
To look at oneself
And acknowledge that it’s
One’s own beliefs,
Actions, values,
Contrived moral outrage,
That perpetuate a
System that keeps people
Right where they are.
Charting an unsteady course
Home from a party where
He enjoyed twenty too many,
It struck him that he was in an
Unfamiliar house.
Stumbling through rooms,
Desperately trying not
To announce his presence or
Bother anyone,
Maddeningly unable to do
Anything but flounder
Helplessly as he careened
From point to point.
A sad young creature winding
Its way toward a place it
Doesn’t want to be.
Only one point of view
Is respectable,
The moment ripe for
Grotesquely inadequate and
Malformed perceptions to
Populate well-meaning minds
Reacting from a place of
Pain and fear
Never admitted.
Maintain the momentum,
Eradicate dissenting utterances,
Sweep them under the rug as
Bothersome, trifling dust.
A new day arrives brandishing
A glinting sword, the
Contracted face of
Judgment unmistakable,
Zeal palpable.
As we’ve seen time and again,
Despots are not content with
Merely having all the
Riches and power.
It is not enough to
Control everything and
Everyone all the time
Without resistance.
Their inner neuroses
Demand further action,
Complete eradication of
Contemptible foes.
It’s always the same story:
Use language to denigrate and
Dehumanize their opponents,
Label them vermin.
Even regular, upstanding,
Normally kind people will
Eventually believe something
If it’s repeated enough.
A populace becomes convinced
That the enemy needs to be
Vanquished at any cost and
With extreme prejudice.
Unsettlingly tall smokestacks
Belch sinister clouds of smoke
Into the pristine night sky.
A river runs red and sterile,
Oily, thick waters embellished
With mounds of ghastly froth.
Another giant fear mobile rolls off
The assembly line, roaring to life
On dirty petrochemicals.
A few well-fed magnates
Conveniently forget their grandchildren
Have to live on this planet too.
Not knowing
What to do next but
Forging forth
Without hesitation,
Leaving space for
Anything that might
Come along,
Welcoming everything,
No arbitrary constraints,
All things possible.
The harshest survive,
The most broken
Impose their will
On hapless bystanders,
Darwinian tragedy.
Wired with a capacity
For compassion and
Nuanced thought,
Unconsciously venerating
Brute force.
Clamoring horde of
Merciless boors
Feasting greedily,
Remorselessly,
Ignoble instinct.
They walked into each other’s lives
Without a single clue as to how to
Treat someone well. The only tool
They possessed was the ability to
Repeat what they had seen their
Respective parents do, poorly.
They proceeded to make each other
Occasionally joyful but mostly
Profoundly miserable. Such is the
Fate of those who live unconsciously,
Perpetuating the ordeal one reaction at a time,
Each new mistake following the last.
