Democracy Without A Leg To Stand On

by John Hawkins / November 8th, 2020

A nation divided against itself
can’t — urbane, urban, rural, absentee —
stand long, when it’s lost its ability
to see what unites, fractured in its wealth.
Elites left and right — Karl Marx, Adam Smith,
Snowballs, Napoleons up the yinyang;
city folk can’t hear the farmer’s twang,
and expats laugh, cash in — above, not with.
We need Ahab’s crazed obsession with whales,
scrimshawed ideas worth risking your life for,
mad thrown harpoons that strike us at the core,
transcending the lesser of two evils.
We mustn’t let liberty get away:
mad whalers entangled midst spumes of spray.

John Hawkins is an American freelance journalist currently residing in Australia. His poetry, commentary, and reviews have appeared in publications here, in Europe, and in the USA. He is a regular contributor to Counterpunch magazine. Read other articles by John.

This article was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2020 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.