Categories
Creativity

That Flag You’re Flying Tells Me All I Need to Know about You

You, my friend,
are on the wrong side
of history
and someday,
years from now,
they’ll write about you
like they’ve written about
your kind before.
They’ll include photos
of your red hats,
and your fandom flags.
They’ll roll clips
of the playground bully,
the fakes and fools,
your lockstep hate,
the idolatry and rhetoric
that set the fate of your country
— and your offspring —
at the edge of a wild precipice.
They’ll speculate
at the types of personalities
who were more easily duped,
who followed out of fear
or inferiority,
weak mindedness or
— worse —
some base interpretation of god,
and they’ll make comparisons
to the evil we used to read in books,
the ones our families fought wars for,
and they’ll shake their heads,
scorn your poor decisions,
scorn you and
the long, sad wake of your ignorance.


©2024 Jen Payne. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.

Categories
Creativity

What Comes Around Goes Around

Come the day when your god
falls out of favor
what then?

When you must
face Mecca five times a day,
obey the Buddhist Precepts
posted in your schoolroom,
worship the Golden Plates,
honor a Saturday sabbath,
abstain from

sex
coffee
alcohol
smoking
pork
pornography
swearing
gambling
dairy
shellfish
modern medicine
electricity
music

dancing?

abstain too from
the worship of false prophets
your idolatry of
evil men and criminals

what then?


©2024 Jen Payne. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.