Unraveling Nation

Democracy doesn’t die in darkness, actually
But in a well -lit room where people, well,
Rich people, well,
All these people who’ve forgotten how to care

Smile
At the man who seeks to lead us downward
They laugh genially at bad jokes and they
Clap! They
Clap

He strips away our rights with words, like
Who the fuck gave him the power to do that?
Does it even matter who, or
Does it only matter that we have to stop him?

Them

Democracy dies in a school’s fluorescent
A nightclubs roving
A concerts spot
Lights

Joy into fear
Into tears, into
Blood
It’s not something we bounce back from on our own or
As a nation

It doesn’t die in yacht lights or
Cigar rooms, or
Wherever those losers hang out
But in spaces where we exist

Was it so bad to care for your neighbor?
Was it so boring to mind your own business?
Let everyone have some of that limitless air you’re
Hogging

I know we’ll be past this someday, or
Some way, or
Somehow, but
Right now it’s so heavy

We’ll need friends to lift it
I don’t know if they’re coming

It’s dark behind my eyelids, but
Democracy died long before I shut them
In the middle of the street
In the sun