The New Pledge of Allegiance
repeat after me
the elites educate you
to stop thinking
the elites want you to believe
what their media tells you
the elites want tv to be
your reality
the elites want you to suspect everyone
but them
the elites encourage unspeakable violence
as the norm
the elites fully support
toothless artistic expression
the elites make every movie revolve around
who has the gun
the elites make music suck
by draining our lives
of sacred spontaneous sound
the elites want poetry to rhyme
all the time
the elites listen to your
phone calls after
reading your texts
the elites spend billions
recruiting, training, arming
elite forces to protect them from
your waking up
the elites hate women
and children
the elites feed you
genetically altered/nutritionally empty
patented mutagenic food
the elites make you work three jobs
die young, burnt out, and broke
too busy to read or react
the elites waste your limited resources
for their profit
the elites will privatize your water
after they fill it with toxic waste
killing every swimming species
the elites exploit impotent acts of radicalism
to pacify your heart and mind
the elites commit
crimes against peace
the elites undermine/discredit/destroy
hospitalize/imprison
suicide/ruin
anyone glimpsing them
the elites create and bait
the races
keeping us distracted and divided
the elites deploy tax paid public servant
police force as bullying
over armed
mad dog occupying army
answerable to no one
the elites bake you with radiation
laughing from the comfort of their
lead-lined bunkers
the elites control elections
giving candidates and issues
preferential media exposure
the elites keep slavery alive
behind bars
in for profit prisons
the elites look you in the eye
take your children
molest them in airports
just to see you obey
the elites destroy community and culture
by raising rents
the elites want you to shut up and stay home
before a flickering light
the elites use their religions
to kill your spirit
the elites feed your children
into a physical and psychological
invasion force meat grinder
to protect oil company
and defense contractor
profits
the elites throw out your votes
the elites want the truth
marginalized
the elites want the truth
sanitized
the elites want the truth
institutionalized
the elites depend on you
not believing me
Rex Butters
Rolling hills and wheeling crows, a voluptuous valley under sunset bloody clouds, night coyote pup trots, mouth full of rabbit or cat, pollinators buzz the trumpet creeper, windy, cold.