Please adhere
To the plan,
Without thinking
Or questioning,
Just do what we
Tell you to do
And keep your
Thoughts to yourself.
At all times,
Think only about
What we tell you
To think,
All free-thinkers
Shall be re-educated
In one of our
Facilities.
As always,
Continue watching
The screen for
Directives.
Sitting on his high perch,
Absolutely enamored with
The sound of his own voice,
Pontificating endlessly,
Tediously, greatly relishing
His contemptuous, haughty,
Condescending pronouncements.
An intoxicated appointee,
He savors every delectable
Morsel of sovereignty and
Dominance he wields,
Making decisions far too
Important for a person of his
Vanity and numbness,
A sweep of the hand,
A dead, arrogant smile.
Herded into an austere room,
They are told they have
To perform a solemn duty
On behalf of their country.
No room for discussion,
Just non-negotiable commands
To do as they’re told
By supposed superiors.
They are expeditiously
Separated into groups:
Those who will follow,
And the dissenters.
They set up a system
That limits certain people’s
Ability to succeed and
Then insult them by
Calling them lazy moochers.
They don’t understand
That myriad hard-working
People don’t succeed
Because they live in a
Country that won’t let them.
All they’ve known is
Privilege and success,
All they do is try to
Make sure nobody
Takes it from them.
They need someone to
Give them easy answers to
Difficult questions,
Tell them what to do and
When to do it,
Condone comfort in
Brutality and selfishness,
Assure them that it’s okay
To destroy the vulnerable,
Assert supremacy so they may
Feel a moment of ease
In their fear-addled minds
While attempting to revive a
False past that never existed.
They see her as
An existential threat,
This teenage girl
Whose only trespass is
Advocating for education
For all girls.
So terrified are they that
Women might have the ability
To think for themselves,
To assume positions of power,
That they do the only
Thing they know how to.
She survives the point-blank
Shot to her head, a heinous
Act of cowardice by
Gutless followers who fail to
Understand the resilience
Of the human spirit.
Trying to be
Someone he’s not.
They told him
How he should be.
Many people
Proffered unhelpful advice.
Do this
To fit in.
We’ll like you
If you conform.
Reinforced by
Lack of insight.
Maudlin longings for
An idyllic past
When things were better
And everyone got along.
No need to worry about
Those other people
Who aren’t part of
The in group.
It’s always been this way,
Some people make it,
Some don’t, the way
It’s supposed to be.
Two pictures side by side,
One of a beaming symbol of
Institutionalized power and
Subjugation, the other of
A hapless victim of circumstance.
A system set up to favor
Certain people, regardless of
Their actual merit, able to
Do anything they want to anyone
Who doesn’t bow to them.
Us versus them,
Keep them out of our neighborhoods,
Away from our wives and children,
Safely rounded up in their
Crumbling tenements.
