I find among the peacemakers,
the activists,
the just:
the war-mongerers,
the egotists,
the cowards,
the bullies.
The closer one gets to the sun,
the more difficult it becomes to see.
This is a warning to those who believe
that leaning left
dodges agendas,
escapes ritual brainwash.
It’s not all bad;
but be honest for once:
it’s not all good,
either.
And if someone then
calls you a ‘hypocrite,'
they’ll say you need Jesus
for salvation,
as all hypocrites do:
go then, to Jesus,
if that’s what you believe;
go on, feel justified:
it’s not like religion
hasn’t been used
as an excuse for
twisted power trips
wars
sadism
vanity
child sacrifice
racism
nationalism
genocide
pedophilia
homophobia
misogyny
all of which gets tucked under the rug,
when the religious get on their soapboxes.
when you try to mention things like
equality
equality
equality
you must be
possessed by
6
6
6.
reasoning with this
is Sisyphean,
beating the poor, dead horse
when its body, skin, meat,
and bone, has long been flattened
and disintegrated into earth;
the task isn’t worth it,
and after a certain point,
you, we, retreat.
What a child’s playground to live on:
where some things are so black and white,
this mudpie goes to you; me first on the swing set;
and others are shaded gray:
it’s okay to hit back, since she started it.
Never-
theless, I feel I must
attach myself to what I see
as the greater good,
as there are still things I’d like to get
out of this country
before I live somewhere else,
and before I die:
America’s my home, goddamn it,
and I hold it to a higher standard
than it seems to have held itself.
Unfortunately it seems
to take laws to create a society’s
eventual obedience:
the civil rights movement,
the end to slavery,
giving women the vote.
At least half
of society doesn’t like
to think of being nice or fair
out of spontaneous, clear conscience.
They like first to be ordered.
Taking an ideal or a fiction believed
more seriously
than what’s right in front of you,
the common human condition:
that’s what I have a problem with.
Both sides are guilty of it.
Both sides are now consumed by
stubborn pride.
Look closely;
how it sickens!
(I promised not to revert into cynicism,
so let’s call this realism,
in the hopes of things getting better.)
If narcissists run our planet,
headstrong, resolute,
and we are sitting ducks
and nod in acquiescence
when their platforms bring us comfort,
what does it matter
what side of the figurative
coin they represent?
This is not a call to inaction:
fight your fights;
believe, please, in something!
I only ask you to see, fully, first,
and to empathize with what’s in front of you.
We’ve been knocked down
by the Right,
but those who’ve
been a part of the Left
know it’s not all smiles and cupcakes either,
since we are all more alike than different,
left and right,
I’d say, in my limited experience.
Good intentions in both/
prickery in both.
I’d also say,
we can choose to see the good in anything,
if it aligns with our causes most seamlessly;
by the same token, we’ll see the bad in anything
granted it tries to sabotage or subvert our rights
or happinesses.
It is not something I think about often;
I’d rather be happy, and choose my battles one by one.
Sensitivity and education requires, however,
a certain degree of consciousness
to subtext
and signifieds
and signifiers.
© erika simone 2014
