May 2017
Traditions are good enough
been around many a year
keeping you in your place
affirming the status quo
because privilege is fine where it is
rewards I have by breathing
that's my story to which I’ll stick
good work if you can get it!
The majority is comfortable
our ease is paramount
to say otherwise is radical
a traitor to the society
don't rock the boat or we'll get wet
comfy on seats sent by fate
it doesn't matter you're the drowning one
what's one death if the rest survive?
Don't celebrate your unique state
it's a reminder of work to do
of sins still committed in the dark
please just blend into the rest
cause if you continue as activist
we'll slice you with mirrored cuts
used in ways that don't make sense
even as we appropriate your scorn.
Understand that I have the right
to **** a stream off the bridge
the artifice that transports me
safely to the other side
since I can't consider those below
huddled without my benefits
who enjoy the yellowed shower
that traditions bless on them.
© 2017. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170516.
been around many a year
keeping you in your place
affirming the status quo
because privilege is fine where it is
rewards I have by breathing
that's my story to which I’ll stick
good work if you can get it!
The majority is comfortable
our ease is paramount
to say otherwise is radical
a traitor to the society
don't rock the boat or we'll get wet
comfy on seats sent by fate
it doesn't matter you're the drowning one
what's one death if the rest survive?
Don't celebrate your unique state
it's a reminder of work to do
of sins still committed in the dark
please just blend into the rest
cause if you continue as activist
we'll slice you with mirrored cuts
used in ways that don't make sense
even as we appropriate your scorn.
Understand that I have the right
to **** a stream off the bridge
the artifice that transports me
safely to the other side
since I can't consider those below
huddled without my benefits
who enjoy the yellowed shower
that traditions bless on them.
© 2017. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20170516.
An online friend came into the cross-hairs of the heated online reactions. They were fighting for changes to a social environment, with the desired result being less patriarchal and less hetronormative. Some people pushed back, with the exclamation of “(don’t) try to change our traditions, call(ing) the values we hold hateful, call(ing) our traditions exclusive despite all evidence to the contrary”. Another said, “this didn't used to be an issue in the scene when I started, because we left politics and agendas at the door”. These are typical, but heated, remarks seen when activists are at work. I’ve seen strong parallels in the area of marriage quality.
My heart further went out to my friend when they began to, completely separately, organize a meet-up of people in a minority group. An online pundit accused my friend of being a bigot, guilty of using activism “as a f*cking front”.
All of this prompted me to write the poem "*******". The speaker of the poem is somewhere in the majority, pushing back against a minority seeking rights and accommodation. My apologies for using descriptive language, but these are the typical reactions, intended or otherwise, of those in a state of majority normality when change is afoot.
My heart further went out to my friend when they began to, completely separately, organize a meet-up of people in a minority group. An online pundit accused my friend of being a bigot, guilty of using activism “as a f*cking front”.
All of this prompted me to write the poem "*******". The speaker of the poem is somewhere in the majority, pushing back against a minority seeking rights and accommodation. My apologies for using descriptive language, but these are the typical reactions, intended or otherwise, of those in a state of majority normality when change is afoot.
