Fuck Em Both 2024
Oh gawd
is all I can think
when I see the lawn signs
vote blue
vote red
people dividing themselves
between him and her
crimson vilifying
navy vilifying
Hitler 2, democracy or dictator, grab him by the pussy, Felon, Cheteo man
Cop-all’s, chairwoman mao, failed border tzar, word salad queen, Kamal Toe
on and on
in an adrenaline fueled diatribe of emotion driven pseudo fear facts
the media heads spew
to make us all
full of hate
Full of the hate
we are told to think
I see hate everywhere
hate in the memes
hate in the signs
hate on the tv
hate in the mail
hate on the socials
hate from my friends
who think they are righteous in their hatred
as if hatred begat
anything more than hatred
friends who can’t help but
hate me
for not jumping into the fray
unwilling to choose between
two hates because I don’t want
the wolf or the lion to eat me
friends who hate me for mentioning the shady bits
we are supposed to gloss over
in this appeal to vote
Nobody really wants to acknowledge the corruption
and death spewing from
Our broken system
That we are one nation under corporate blackmail
Our leaders pretending to hold different ideologies
All the while
Rubbing their champagne flutes behind our backs
at P-diddy parties
Or was it Eppstein parties
We will never know
No all we see are the ills of the side we want to hate
Donald warp speed the vaxx prez
his vaccine, the best vaccine ever in the history of vaccines
the very safe, very very-safe-everyone-should-take-it vaccine
Donald lets stuff the cabinets with swamp creatures
line pockets with drained pensions and frack frack frack drill drill drill
Or Kamala — worst VP ever
out worsening the worstest Dan Quayle
Not a single vote in the 2020 primary
even hated by MNBC
until her old guy bossman
debated the other old guy
and gave one side
no choice but throw in the towel…that guy nobody was allowed to run against
The chosen Kamala right there with the bomb bomb bomb drill drill drill money money money honey
devastating unwanting victims of political geography
It’s the “second coming of christ” jailbird blowhard billionaire
versus an insider selected “grassroots black woman candidate”
“anything but trump”
Oxyed out at the teleprompter
Gaffing and gaffawing like the best of em.
even the BBC tells us they both hyperbole fibbed
their way through their debates
Believing in either
is like thinking a stripper
really likes you
Oh well
it doesn’t matter
because we believe the world will end
the country will implode
our lives will be ruined
rights will be gone
if the enemy candidate gets elected
the masters brew the civil unrest
and we drink it
like coke or pepsi
same thing
only a different
I long for purple
the days when we could talk intelligently
about our differences
not thrash and dash
slam shut the door
in teenage fits of disgust
in response to wrong think
A time when it was okay
to let those who voted the other color
join you at the dinner table
or grade your driveway
or babysit your children
I pray for the emergence of a new color
a broad spectrum hue of love
that isn’t about politics or skin or gender or preferences or
fitting between the prescribed guardrails
of iron on civility
My community held an “I Am Democracy” event
a few weeks ago
to promote free speech, tolerance and togetherness
even invited my out of town poet friends
who later asked me
why I wasn’t there sharing my poetry
All I could think to say
is maybe
the democracy of today
doesn’t have room for poems
like this
Blake More, Oct 2024