by Ernie McCray
A silly
lie spewing Black man who
would rather be
a werewolf
than a vampire
lost a
|frighteningly and ridiculously
close Senate race
to a dignified Black man
who was born to inspire,
making me question
what the hell
America was thinking,
while, at the same time, thinking
that thinking
isn’t an American skill
because if we were adept at thinking
a blood-drinker wannabe
would never
have made it to a ballot
because thinkers
would have pooh-poohed
such tomfoolery
at the get-go
with all the challenges
America faces currently
and the blame for such
inexcusable clowning
lies with
We the People
and those we elect
to take care of our plethora
of social and political needs,
with more of the responsibility
on these electees
since they hold seats
in the Congress
in Washington D.C.
with a tremendous amount
of power to tend
to such necessities,
with absolutely
no justification
for their glaring misdeeds
because the majority of them
graduated from some
of the nation’s
finest universities
where they took courses
like poli sci and law
and economics and business administration
and psychology,
studies that should have granted
them deep insights
in what it takes to do
the work they’re paid to do,
yet with all the books they had to read
and all the papers they had to write,
often late into the night,
and all the tests they had to take,
they appear to have no clue
as to how to put their knowledge
to use
for the good of the country,
making it rather overly obvious
that they went to school
just for the diploma
and the prestige,
just witless stooges
with impressive
college degrees,
out for themselves
more than for anybody else,
so, no wonder they’re
tolerant of “fake news
and demoralizing lies,
open to ideas of taking
Social Security benefits away
and dividing citizens
into camps of narrow thoughts
and building walls
at our southern border,
their backs turned
to the pleas of so many families
losing loved ones
to drug addictions
and diseases
as there’s not health coverage
for everyone,
their minds resistant
to the realities
of climate change
while the weather
wreaks havoc
before their very eyes
and they ignore
economic inequalities
that can easily be seen
in so many towns and cities
if they only opened their eyes
and took a peek,
and then go on
to cease
making people of color
and non-heterosexual folks
struggle every day
for rights that people
who are no longer the majority
enjoy as a way of life everyday
in what they refer to as the good old USA,
and, oh, would it ever be
a brand-new day
if they just worked on themselves
in ways
that could remake them
into caring thoughtful humans
who come to realize
that our country cries
for positive forward
life affirming ways of thinking
as our experiment
with democracy
gasps for breath,
in need of the oxygen
of hope
to keep it alive
and functioning.
Needless to say
I’m engaging in wishful thinking
but that doesn’t
negate the truth
that a society
can’t better itself
if its leaders
and citizens
are unable to
think critically.
But we’ve got a lot
of work to do
if a buffoon
can get away spouting nonsense
about monsters
who roam
and terrorize at night
and come close
to winning a seat
in our nation’s Senate.
If we’re to succeed,
in creating
the kind of country
we desperately need,
allowing such as that
to happen
just won’t cut it.
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