Oh my god, America.
You're seeing this, too.
It's worse than we feared.
I don't know what to do.
Each day
another slew of surreal headlines,
another liberty stripped,
a picture of men making decisions,
another police brutality clip.
Relinquishing our national parks
to them that build and milk.
Filling every cabinet position
with billionaires and their ilk.
Speaking at a memorial service
about the size of crowds.
Size, size, size.
See the trajectory:
how much goes past
that we cannot allow.
We are living a history
that must be excised.
It is enough
just to live through it,
yet not enough.
It is enough
just to know its evil,
yet not enough.
It is enough
to read, to speak,
to see, to trust what you see,
to not be convinced otherwise,
to despair whether time flies,
yet not enough
when it festers, when it gloats,
when it turns out and votes,
for those in hiding or
those on their way in boats,
for those whose family crossed
or were forced here in boats,
for those who never arrived
but been here all this time,
for whosever hopes are snuffed,
for them who have died.
Oh my god, America.
Just barely gotten started,
and already losing heart.
The hydra pipeline,
cut down and split in two.
We must meet our ethics,
do what we said we'd do.
We must harbor more
than our resolve
when the police squads
come sweeping through.
We must find our cause,
what wishes us to be sure,
and firm, and true,
and go after that
with freak focus.
We can't do it all.
But we can do one thing well,
we can speak our piece.
We've all gotta be freaks.
We knew he'd cry fraud
if he lost.
Who knew he'd cry fraud
just to strip voting rights
even more, at any cost?
We shake our head in public,
disguising our disgust.
What's the point of being free
if we can't afford to create art?
What's the point of being me
if I can't stomach my part?
What's itching the rich
to plunder all that they see?
Who's hedging their hegemony?
You can't arrest journalists
for giving witness to protest.
You can't ban scientists
from saying what we must protect.
You can't gaslight a nation
with the fallacy of 'alternate facts.'
You can't fool us into believing
our principles aren't under attack.
The locker-room monster
cuts funding to fight domestic violence.
The locker-room monster
commits atrocities in total silence.
Fuck your wall, Donald.
Forget the insoluble border,
set thine own house in order.
Like an insufferable pet,
it takes after its dear owner:
self-defeating and inhumane.
And it would cost so much more
than the billions we can't afford.
It would cost us the lamp
at our golden door.
Women's bodies
are none of your concern.
When will you come up with a plan
to keep millions from becoming uninsured?
When will the jig be up,
and we can see your damn tax returns?
You've made us feel like shit.
Now it's your turn.
You lied
when you said you'd surround yourself
with the best
to make up for your stunted mind,
so it didn't come as a surprise
when you surrounded yourself
with the richest, whitest,
most supremacist
folks you could find.
DeVos never felt the load
of taking out a life-crippling loan.
Carson knew he wasn't fit to be on deck,
but I guess he figured, aw what the heck?
Rex the fossilized tyrant of Exxon Mobil,
ain't an SoS supposed to be knowledgable?
Sessions guaranteeing criminal justice
won't wend its way except through us.
Bannon's delusions spewed in a monologue
out the decaying mouth of our demagogue.
Pruitt sued the EPA fourteen times,
obliged to oversee its violent decline.
We knew he didn't care for the land.
We knew he'd lend his tycoon buds a hand.
We knew he'd mock popular demand.
We knew there was nothing to be made great.
Anyone who thought someone else
would take care of this,
it's a little too late
to take your head out of the sand.
But we need you anyways.
Need you to tie yourself to the time
that you were always a part of.
Need to get heavy with love.
Need to make checklists of boring stuff.
Need to crystallize and criticize.
Need to forge and fight and fuss.
Need to feel all these eyes on us.
I won't ask you to give up yourself.
I won't point to the books on your shelf.
But when the better days are upon us,
it will have been worth it to keep our promise.
You're seeing this, too.
It's worse than we feared.
I don't know what to do.
Each day
another slew of surreal headlines,
another liberty stripped,
a picture of men making decisions,
another police brutality clip.
Relinquishing our national parks
to them that build and milk.
Filling every cabinet position
with billionaires and their ilk.
Speaking at a memorial service
about the size of crowds.
Size, size, size.
See the trajectory:
how much goes past
that we cannot allow.
We are living a history
that must be excised.
It is enough
just to live through it,
yet not enough.
It is enough
just to know its evil,
yet not enough.
It is enough
to read, to speak,
to see, to trust what you see,
to not be convinced otherwise,
to despair whether time flies,
yet not enough
when it festers, when it gloats,
when it turns out and votes,
for those in hiding or
those on their way in boats,
for those whose family crossed
or were forced here in boats,
for those who never arrived
but been here all this time,
for whosever hopes are snuffed,
for them who have died.
Oh my god, America.
Just barely gotten started,
and already losing heart.
The hydra pipeline,
cut down and split in two.
We must meet our ethics,
do what we said we'd do.
We must harbor more
than our resolve
when the police squads
come sweeping through.
We must find our cause,
what wishes us to be sure,
and firm, and true,
and go after that
with freak focus.
We can't do it all.
But we can do one thing well,
we can speak our piece.
We've all gotta be freaks.
We knew he'd cry fraud
if he lost.
Who knew he'd cry fraud
just to strip voting rights
even more, at any cost?
We shake our head in public,
disguising our disgust.
What's the point of being free
if we can't afford to create art?
What's the point of being me
if I can't stomach my part?
What's itching the rich
to plunder all that they see?
Who's hedging their hegemony?
You can't arrest journalists
for giving witness to protest.
You can't ban scientists
from saying what we must protect.
You can't gaslight a nation
with the fallacy of 'alternate facts.'
You can't fool us into believing
our principles aren't under attack.
The locker-room monster
cuts funding to fight domestic violence.
The locker-room monster
commits atrocities in total silence.
Fuck your wall, Donald.
Forget the insoluble border,
set thine own house in order.
Like an insufferable pet,
it takes after its dear owner:
self-defeating and inhumane.
And it would cost so much more
than the billions we can't afford.
It would cost us the lamp
at our golden door.
Women's bodies
are none of your concern.
When will you come up with a plan
to keep millions from becoming uninsured?
When will the jig be up,
and we can see your damn tax returns?
You've made us feel like shit.
Now it's your turn.
You lied
when you said you'd surround yourself
with the best
to make up for your stunted mind,
so it didn't come as a surprise
when you surrounded yourself
with the richest, whitest,
most supremacist
folks you could find.
DeVos never felt the load
of taking out a life-crippling loan.
Carson knew he wasn't fit to be on deck,
but I guess he figured, aw what the heck?
Rex the fossilized tyrant of Exxon Mobil,
ain't an SoS supposed to be knowledgable?
Sessions guaranteeing criminal justice
won't wend its way except through us.
Bannon's delusions spewed in a monologue
out the decaying mouth of our demagogue.
Pruitt sued the EPA fourteen times,
obliged to oversee its violent decline.
We knew he didn't care for the land.
We knew he'd lend his tycoon buds a hand.
We knew he'd mock popular demand.
We knew there was nothing to be made great.
Anyone who thought someone else
would take care of this,
it's a little too late
to take your head out of the sand.
But we need you anyways.
Need you to tie yourself to the time
that you were always a part of.
Need to get heavy with love.
Need to make checklists of boring stuff.
Need to crystallize and criticize.
Need to forge and fight and fuss.
Need to feel all these eyes on us.
I won't ask you to give up yourself.
I won't point to the books on your shelf.
But when the better days are upon us,
it will have been worth it to keep our promise.
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