I wonder what we will leave our children

A scorched earth and the bitter

Stench of hatred and division

If there is an earth at all

I wonder what I shall say as they

Drag me off to prison.

For being who I am.

For existing.

I wonder how I will explain –

Away.

The ignorance of a man

Who believes in his own

Hype.

The insecurity of a sex –

Hell bent on finding worth by,

Persecuting

The other.

And you. Sweetheart.

Wear your blue bracelet –

complicit

tell me you’re ‘safe’

With blue bangles — shackles

on wrists that will never

actually be chained

never too loud though right?

Decry the persecution.

in your mind just a vote

From the sidelines.

Solidarity in –

your subtle nods

and tutting

Support.

just in case you need to assimilate

while we flee from ‘justice’

You are not safe.

You will watch

Silently,

as the 0.01 percent

Of a population –

Are locked in the chains

Of the danger

Your fellow ladies

Instigated.

Complicit in their own

Downfall.

And

Mine.

you think it’s enough

it is not enough

with so many of our lives in danger

go on make yourself a victim

you will be soon enough.

You can tell your own

children

Why.

but how can i

look my countrymen

in the eye

when they could have voted

for that monster

and how can i

go back to trusting

anyone new

when they could have co-signed that hate –

that hate

that will kill

not a matter of if

but when

hell –

it’s killed already

so how do i ever

sit across from

someone who voted

for the active deconstruction

of my rights

my family’s rights

there is not one person

in my life

that was not betrayed by this

and i don’t know how to

reconcile that with continuing to exist

amongst them

and now they really are a “them”

and i never really wanted it to be like that

but they sold us out

and they have a list-

And,

You can tell your own

children

Why.

---

If this resonated, share it on Bluesky (or anywhere folks still have an attention span longer than a moth after a sleepless night), leave us a comment, or check out our latest anthologies

Poetry Collection, ‘Is this all we get?’

Prose Collection, ‘ Fifth Avenue Pizza’