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They chant in cloisters of comfort:
“Wealth is fleeting, power corrupts.”
But I have walked the corridors of consequence, Where silence bows to sovereigns of coin and command.
Let them sip serenity from porcelain platitudes I drink from chalices forged in fire:
Currency, the golden marrow of movement;
Power, the storm that parts the sea of no.
In this epoch of veiled verdicts, Respect is not earned it is engineered.
And privilege is not gifted it is gripped
By those who wield both purse and pulse.
Give me dominion, not to dominate, But to dismantle the architecture of injustice.
Let my voice be velvet and volcanic—
Unjudged, unshackled, unafraid.
Let my family dwell beneath citadels of certainty, Not beneath the brittle breath of borrowed hope.
Let my past be a phantom, For the present wears a crown.
One decree, and doors unfold.
One gesture, and gravity bends.
No garment mocked, no gaze policed, When power walks beside wealth, cloaked in reverence.
I do not seek applause I seek immunity.
Not from truth, but from tyranny.
For in this realm, freedom is not a birthright
It is a transaction, sealed in gold and grit.
So I rise, not as a monarch, But as a myth reborn.
To wear my privilege like prophecy, And my power like poetry.
This poem is not a plea—it’s a proclamation. A myth reborn in the language of fire and velvet. It speaks for those who walk corridors of consequence, who seek not applause but immunity from tyranny. If it stirs you, speak
back. Let your comment be part of the uprising.
What does “freedom as a transaction” mean to you?
• Have you ever felt power without applause?
• Which line in this poem felt like your own uprising?
silvervi Sep 25
I allow resistance to remind me of my growth.
Resistance means that we are expanding beyond our comfort zone.
Joshua Phelps Sep 14
I remember the days
when compassion
wasn’t a stranger.

Now we’re in darker times.

A creeping feeling—
apathy is the norm.
It feels dangerous
to know
there’s no turning back.

All caught up
in the madness,
no room
for sadness.

We live in a world
where humanity
has fallen.

Gaslighting everywhere.
No one reads
between the lines.

They glance past the facts,
look away
instead of standing
for human rights.

I remember the days
when compassion
wasn’t a stranger.

When we weren’t told
to sympathize
with hate.

I can live
with madness.
But to accept it
as the norm—
that is madness.
this poem came out fast — urgent, unpolished. it speaks to the ache of watching compassion slip from the public eye, replaced by apathy and gaslight. it’s a refusal to accept cruelty as the norm.
It's everybody's job.

Détente, rollback, middle-ground.

Working it until an internal weakness is found.

Surround the town with wire.

Eventually their voices will tire.

It does not work with fixed plans. It does not take unnecessary risks. Impervious to the logic of reason, and it is highly sensitive to the logic of force.

For this reason, it can easily withdraw—and usually does when strong resistance is encountered at any point.
From the 'Checklist Before Commencing on a Dream.'

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4793791/checklist-before-commencing-on-a-dream/
Rorschach Sep 1
America is not a police state
But they make of us enemies
Trump is no friend to me
No matter what he says on TV
The world turns on a single dime
Justice is just a lie, a passing paradigm
Laws are written for those with might
While the poor fade into endless night
They watch us from their gilded towers
Counting down our dwindling hours
They feed us lies and call it truth
While stealing the last of our youth
Their flags fly high, a hollow show
For those whose hearts they'll never know
Our voices silenced, our dreams erased
In a country they say is so great
Trump is a dictator, Newsome 2028!
Marwan Baytie Jul 28
When tyranny dons the robe of law,
Then rising up becomes the call.
For silence feeds the despot’s might,
And duty wakes in darkest night.
Bravery is not a lack of fear,
But holding it, and drawing near
A trembling hand, a steady soul,
That walks through fire to reach the goal.
I always tell three truths
And one lie
Or is it three lies
And one truth?
The doctor said
People like me
Can never be trusted
Everything they say is a white lie
The nurses said
I don’t believe you
As I swore I couldn’t breathe
Choked and fell down
My old medical record
Called me
Histrionic
Manipulative
Narcissistic
So lock us up
Won’t you?
Tie us to our hospital beds
Inject us
Lobotomize us
Electrocute us
Put us in rooms
That kills us inside and out
Scream at us
Call us pathetic *****
Who aren’t like the rest of humanity
And can never be ‘normal’
Only call us by our names
When we have to take our
Medications
Medications that
Shut you up for good
Makes the world rush in waves
While your speech becomes slow
And slurred
And when you’re done with us
After you **** us inside and out
You can discard our dead bodies in our homes
Where everyone truly believes we are
“Cured”
And your shadows watch us
From the corners
Making sure we are
Always silent

But I never will be
I was always taught to fight back.
Mimic the voices of the dead
And watch me come alive
Every time

I am Devi’s version of Draupadi
I laugh in the face of oppression
First, I let them stab and crush me
With a calm face
I let them purge my blood out
Like rubber from trees
I let my bruised hands and legs
Shine like trophies
Then I mock
Mockery is a clever woman’s tradition
Passed down like a river
I mock
Them all
I laugh while my ******* dangle
Emptily
I let their ego burn down
Ferociously
And even when I’m buried
I will laugh my heart out from the grave
And my mockery will haunt humanity
For centuries
And my dried blood
On your skin
Will never fade
I am immortal
Even in the grave
I speak.
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