now
don’t take
this
personally
but
all your hopes and expectations
have
no foundation
in history
quite to the contrary
history suggests
that
your optimism
mirrors that
of
those
whose graves
we stand beside today
he’d seen every john wayne movie and every episode of cops his black spit shined boots set off his neatly pressed military fatigues and sheriff’s badge looking totally combat ready carrying the M4 carbine slung across his chest he was well prepared for his starring role so with cameras rolling the team burst into the family’s home shattering the wooden door with explosives then flash grenades to dramatize their entry finding crying children mother naked in bed father slammed to the floor as he tried to defend those he loved then shots fired teenage son in pool of innocent blood dark like his skin radio interrupts the production filming they’re at the wrong address
these are not my emotions this anger and fear is older than my years upon this earth it is the taste of dried blood and the dust of those once enslaved freed by death to wander with whatever winds reach into soul to reanimate their words so their sorrow and stories can be retold these are not my words so expect no apologies or absolution of social sins the dead cannot make such offerings to the living they can only recall the sins you’ve lived and the pain you’ve bestowed
if you do not speak when children are torn from their parents and caged like animals when will you speak will you cry out above the wailings of thousands of loved ones mourning senseless deaths caused by incompetence if not then when will you speak will you denounce the rancid words of traitors to this nation and its constitution with righteous indignation and honest condemnation if not then when will you speak will you order without delay those who enter the chambers of freedom screaming venomous mantras of hate and ignorance is it then that you will speak harsh words demanding their departure from those hallowed halls if not then when will you speak perhaps you’ll hold your voice until your body is dragged by those same rebels to a makeshift gallows outside the capital steps your hands and mouth bound and your body wrapped in some confederate flag is it then that you’ll scream to be heard above the hideous mob co-conspirators that you would not speak of and to before now but now how will you speak with your hands posed across your chest
the hands on the old man’s watch stopped as if his fears had entered an inanimate object he stared out from his apartment window into the darkness memories projected onto today men in black uniforms herding people into the street cursing each breath they took striking anyone who resisted the poor the elderly man or woman it made no difference for they were not seen as humans but rather the cause of a sick nation but now he was in america and the scene that took place last night must have been a nightmare for this is portland
before their eyes opened fine threads of social expectation were layered around the infant form distorting the view of the outside world and stunting the growth within an arrested development caused by a malnutrition of truth as had been expected with such containment there were fatalities but such deaths were easily projected onto upbringing
and or personal parental failures leaving the society blameless those that finally emerged from the cultural cocoon were as had been planned unable to discern social injustice accepting the white cane of forced poverty that denied them access to most of the entry points of success living their lives as moths flutter around the flame of hate most disconcerting to the oligarchy however were the few that emerged as dragons
