I've decided to repost two poems from this blog. The first was written in November, 2016, just after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Although I had him in mind when I was writing, the piece has even wider meaning today.
erosion
Darkness oozes from the widening chasm,
sulfurous and sinister,
scorching and obliterating
as it spreads destruction and fear.
How has it been loosed
upon this land
where such hope and aspiration
newly flourished?
Like spring grain,
green against the distant hills,
inspiring such poetic outpourings.
And yet it flows,
building from some dark place below
where honest souls dare not
even imagine.
It builds,
it solidifies,
a mass so dark
so horrible
it turns hearts cold.
And there it stands,
a new dominance
in the landscape of reason and logic
and truth and kindness.
Dark, foreboding,
all light consumed
in it's shadow.
Despair...
Destruction...
Distress...
And then the rain,
drop by drop.
And then the waves,
breaking,
breaking.
The constancy of effort
eroding
bit by bit
grain by grain
the massive monolith
slowly lessening.
Time
History
Constancy of effort
Will prevail in the end.
Be the rain.
Be the wave.
© paul fishman November 2016
==========================
The next piece was written in 2018 as I fumed over whatever daily insult to humanity The Donald had perpetrated that day. I thought of the American revolution, and the need for another. Again, in the context of today, it is the system, not the titular head, that needs to be reimagined and "overthrown."
THIS IS A CRY FOR REVOLUTION
This is a cry for revolution.
When in the course of human events...
This is a cry for justice.
We hold these truths to be self evident...
This is a cry for equality.
...that all men (sic) are created equal...
This is a cry for democracy.
Governments...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
This is a cry for acknowledgement.
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends...
This is a cry for action.
...it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it...
This is a cry for change.
...and to institute new government...
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design
to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their right,
it is their duty,
to throw off such government,
and to provide new guards
for their future security.
...history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
all having in direct object the establishment of
an absolute Tyranny...
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has started trade wars with China, the European Union and Canada.
He is putting Russia first over America first.
He prefers Putin and other autocrats over our democratic allies.
He has slashed corporate taxes and greatly increased the national debt.
He has denied climate change, walked away from global climate accords, and promoted fossil fuels.
He is removing environmental regulations, causing dire consequences for human health and the environment.
He has broken the Iran nuclear deal and now threatens war with Iran.
He is steadily eroding the Affordable Care Act.
He has attacked our free press, labeling them “fake” and “the enemy of the people.”
He has appointed the most incompetent people to direct and destroy federal agencies and deregulate corporations.
He is treating immigrants and asylum seekers like criminals.
He has abducted and abused children of immigrants and asylum seekers.
He has condoned and ignored bigotry and hatred of “the other.”
He wants to Make America White, Straight and “christian” Again.
He is violating every norm of how a president should behave.
He is basically violating every norm of decency and justice and fairness for which the United States stands.
We hold these truths to be self-evident....
THIS IS A CALL FOR REVOLUTION!
—-
© pfishman July 2018
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