anybody but trump in poetry

Seriously
yes
anyone but Trump.

The idea that letting him win would be for the best because
he’d make things worse but it would cause us all to rise up,
take back our country from the fascists and the moneymen
for once and for all, I don’t buy it.
I say that’s bullshit and history agrees with me.

We burned down the entire Middle East
there were a few protests in the big cities
then nothing.

Children blow away whole schools every other week,
a few protests in the big cities
then nothing.

Cops murder black kids every other day,
a few protests in the big cities
then nothing.

The investment drones destroyed the middle class
then with a straight face asked for a bailout
a few protests
et cetera.

Do you know what happens when things get worse in America?
Some city folks and some college kids, myself included
we’ll protest for a little while
before we’re disgraced in the media
laughed at and arrested in droves
then the country just accepts this as the new normal
the country then moves on.

America doesn’t want to rock the boat
Americans just want to hang onto what
little they have left
that Wall Street and the oilmen haven’t taken yet
that’s it.
In a year, it would be the new status quo
that’s just how it goes.

Our parents’ generation saw their older brothers
dragged off to die in Vietnam for the sake of empty theory
it went on for years and years and years
despite some earnest protest here and there
because we’re a nation of fall-in-line cowards mostly
we’re a species of fall-in-line cowards mostly
clinging to what we have left of the past.

My friends held onto Zuccotti Park long as they could
other than arrested what did they get?
A couple years later, Donald Trump
the living avatar of vulgar Wall Street cartoon avarice
has a damn good shot at being president
especially if we allow it
in a flood of short-sighted smug protest votes.

Any sane person would prefer Bernie, of course
would prefer Senator Warren, of course
still a flawed-but-okay Clinton paddling in place
is a far far better thing than sinking
than thinking Donald Trump would spark a backlash
that would finally get us
the Scandanavian utopia as humans we deserve and
as gutless smug little cowards we probably do not.

Trump would let Congress drag us back to the 40s
little by little the jackboots would come out
the social pressure to not rock the boat would rise
eventually you’d risk arrest even reading something like this.

History is not an inevitable progression.
History is a collection of fits and starts
that any monster can reset with a pen and a smile.

If we’re stuck with imperfect Hilary
for God’s sake vote for her over fucking Trump.
History is littered with the bodies of people
who thoughts their neighbors would never really
let a monster do as a monster does.

Anybody but Trump.
For fuck’s sake.