May 18, 2025

hiding
or fighting
a fascist dictatorship

a takeover of/from
what once called itself
the paradigm of democracy

and we the people
somehow
voted this power-monger in

[though, with wealth, it’s easy enough
to turn the tides of an election
with tactics on either side
of the line of
voter fraud]

but what do we do
when our numbers mean so little
against media takeovers and social distractions
and virtue signaling and in-fighting?

a revolution is at hand
but the powerful seem to have control
over literally everything

[we’ve been here before —
we, as a species —
perhaps the technology is new,
but i’m certain
i’m certain
the despair and feeling of powerlessness
has all happened
and will all happen
again
and again
and again and again and again
because humans hunger for power
almost as much as they hunger for community

it’s just
will we learn
from our past

or not?]

April 2, 2025

living in this year
when we all feel so hopeless
and helpless
against everything

and feeling like we’re running out of time
on the clock
to escape a fascist dictatorship —
did the jews who escaped
ever feel guilty for not staying
and fighting
the nazis in germany?

what privilege can be leveraged
when everyone is under
someone else’s
boot?

November 6, 2024

what a fucking stupid country
i’ll be eloquent tomorrow
today i just need to scream

~~~

that’s not true,
i’ll write today
because i’m too numb to just walk around —

my strength comes from feeling
but i can’t feel anything but frustration
for so many people who would vote against
their own self-interests
against their own inalienable rights
[i guess they’re kind of alienable now, right?]

i keep staring off into space
and getting lost in my own
worst-case scenarios
which all come back to the conclusion
“i simply don’t wish to be in this timeline”
which is especially strong, stemming from
“i’ve already live through this once — i thought we had learned.”

there’s a quote
in the miniseries Stakes
that’s part of the animated tv show Adventure Time
and it goes something like this:

[pause for me to find the complete quote, because i will]

the Vampire King asks Marceline:
“What’s the one thing you’ve noticed about the world since you beat me all those hundreds of years ago?”

to which Marceline replies:
“Everything repeats over and over again. No one learns anything because no one lives long enough to see the pattern, i guess.”

“But you’ve lived long enough.”
the Vampire King replies

and i kind of feel like i
have lived a thousand years
and seen the cycles and patterns repeating
over and over and over again
and am the only one who has learned
anything

[i guess it’s true what they say about studying history: you may not be doomed to repeat it, but you’ll be so frustrated as you watch everyone else repeat it that you lose all respect for humanity as a whole]

[i may be paraphrasing/adding to that, but the sentiment still stands]

~~~

i’m sickened
i’m scared
and i’m not even that frightened for myself — we’re in an overwhelmingly blue city
in the midst of a fairly solidly blue state
[and if New York were to secede, we’d be pretty
self-sufficient immediately]
i’m worried for all the folks who will be hurt
physically
emotionally
psychologically
from this egomaniacal walking talking cheeto
whose only desire
is to stay out of jail
and make himself more money
and the cult of hatred that follows him.

i wish i could believe in humanity
again/
ever