So where were you
When we imprisoned the suffragists
And fed them
With feeding tubes?
Where were you
When the hangings were strange fruit
Lining the highways?
Where were you
When we had concentration camps?
Maybe that should be an "are"
Replacing "were"
Or the whir of the "plasmatic 2000"
By which our feathered dreams
Become satin reality.
Where were you
On the trail of tears?
Blowing up Serbian civilians
For mercantile values?
Or were you ignoring the Tutsi minority?
Because,
After all,
They're Africans.
And did you honestly think our shenanigans
With the heroin trade
In Vietnam
In Laos
In Thailand
In whatever the fuck Burma is called now,
Myanmar
In Afghanistan
Would do a greater good?
I've lost count of the satin reality.
It only pretends
Something "different"
And uncompromisingly soft.
Where are you
When we uplift
The dead.
Do we rise
Do we fall
Do we foam at the mouth?
Or do we think
There is a better world.