By a “hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck”
bemoaned CNN after the latest election campaign debacle
they couldn’t believe the disrespect and incivility
so much misinformation
so much hate
#notmypresident-ial debate
but was it really so bizarre?
does the fabrication of facts, the talking over each other
and past each other, trying to miscast each other
really only happen on the national debate stage?
or did it all look eerily familiar to your facebook page?
are Donald Trump and Joe Biden
the only two characters in this comedy of caricatures?
are we appalled by our choices for this election
or are we appalled because our choices look like our reflection?
–
it’s like we’ve gathered to repair a beloved but battered
and broken-down house
one side’s got the hammers
the other’s got the nails
but we’re too busy arguing over which is better suited for the job
or pointing out that hammers were once used incorrectly
or that nails are appalling because they could possibly be stepped on
cable news steps in and says
“wait a minute – you know
those hammers, those nails
those could really do some damage
you could use them to impale…
each other”
The New York Times steps in and says you know…
that old house isn’t worth saving anyway
Twitter and YouTube step in
and show the people with the hammers more stories about the nastiness of nails
and shows those with the nails the ghastliness of hammers
and now both sides stammer
and doubt what they’re made for
and made of
they hesitate to not only to build
but to denounce the carnage that they’re capable of
and we just stand here face to face
with our blunt and pointy weapons
that were supposed to be tools
threatening each other’s destruction
neglecting the construction that we came here for
in the first place
–
we the people are an eagle
navigating the fragile flight of humanity
with a noble and distinguished head of freedom
and a body of inalienable rights
the problem is not which wing you’re on
it’s how far out there you are
the further we go from the body
is the further we get from empathy
and peace and equality
as the feathers get thinner we become more and more tribal
the solutions we see become more and more genocidal
the far left is no less dangerous than the far right
too much chaos is no better than too much order
too much night is no more bearable than too much day
if you cut off one wing
you veer straight into a mountain of tyranny
either way
for every Hitler there’s a Stalin
that’s why every picture from where freedom has fallen
looks exactly the same
I know we have different ideas about what this house should look like
but without an agreed upon foundation and people willing work on it
it’s just a mansion in our imagination
unattached to a body, the wings of an eagle are just hollow bones in a free fall
and the sky is just a hopeless hallucination
without compromise
we are broken birds
hapless hammers
and good for nothing nails
I know I’ve mixed my metaphors here
what I’m trying to make clear
is that all supposedly invincible
civilizations have fallen for a lot less
I hope this train wreck lights a dumpster fire under us
that scorches all the pre-programmed proclivities
that’ve been stuck in our underbrush
and we can finally see clearly enough
to find our way out
of this hot mess
