Lipstick on a Barracuda

There are other evils which have ravaged
This poor nation's face, have given it
Such ugliness that no amount of make-up,
No sweet words or self-help booklets
Can redeem it in the world's eyes.
Patriarchy's one, of course, but it's
Made ugly every country. Capital,
And those who own it, also sears like acid,
But, again, it does so everywhere. The only
Evil that's (almost) unique to this benighted
Nation is its embrace of enslavement.
Monsters, themselves barely human,
Bought and brought their equals here
From Africa in ropes and chains, and
“Owned” them as if they were only
Animals, and said that they weren't
Truly human. This went on for centuries,
Until too many others found enslavement
Unacceptable. The slaves were freed,
But, even so, the monsters, with their
Ropes and chains, still said that they
Were animals...to be thrust into separate
Ghettos, captured, judged, and thrown
In jail, and shot on sight, unarmed, by
White policemen. And the monsters,
Filled with fear by what they've always
Done, turned their homes into armories,
And turned their nation, here and elsewhere,
Into one which knows nothing of charity,
Diplomacy. The only thing it knows
Is force. “Subdue the niggers. Subdue
Anyone who questions who we are.
We're God's great white gift to the planet.
We will kill the dusky ones, the ones
Who've come to question whether
We're so good as we proclaim, or whether
We are ugly, evil, ruined centuries ago
Because we loved our slaves.



Poetry by Lawrence Beck The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 76 times
Written on 2017-09-19 at 01:35

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