ANONYMOUS
Anonymous Graffiti under Big Lots sign in Fredonia
Photo by ANONYMOUS
Trigger warning.
This poem is messy, like life.
Thank you for reading if you do.
I am a writer. And I have lost all meaning.
I am a poet. I have lost all meaning.
I am lost in what the meaning is.
What is my meaning? Do I mean anything?
What is the meaning of this?
We are alive.
We have the opportunity
To create a better world.
We can watch from a distance.
And put our heads in the sand.
I’d rather be compressed into a sand and mud mixture.
Never move again and watch the waves roll onto me.
The danger of that, though,
is that if we don’t get our heads out of the sand,
the tide will rise,
and we will drown.
I am a transgender man. And I am scared.
It feels like, maybe, we could be wrong.
Maybe, it feels like,
America is not Free.
Maybe I am wrong.
Please, oh please, prove me wrong.
I am a transgender man. And I am scared.
I am scared for people like me.
I am scared for you.
I am scared of who is in charge of the American government.
I am scared of being silenced.
I am scared of dying from those hands.
Those old, rich, Nazi-coded hands.
So why are we being quiet?
Are we not talking about this?
Did they already silence us?
I am a transgender man.
The world is exploding in front of us.
And I am the only one crying on the floor of this gender-neutral bathroom.
The world is exploding.
Assignment number three is due on Wednesday.
The world is exploding.
It’s all around us. It affects you, your parents, your friends.
The world is exploding.
And it will all crumble onto me in the gender-neutral bathroom.
TikTok doom scrolling, I roll my strained eyes.
Your feed is sparkly foods, book reviews.
Mine is executive orders ridding my existence.
The world is exploding.
“In my life I have not scratched my ear without war in the background.” ~ Brian Turner
Kendrick Lamar stands before the President.
Standing between the two halves of the American flag.
He displayed a televised revolution.
The media complained about Black rap.
“The revolution is about to be televised.” ~ Kendrick Lamar
“The revolution will not be televised.” ~ Gil Scott-Heron
It’s a shame nobody has a camera.
The news outlets no longer give facts, but opinions.
No truth is spread but lies are heard.
The world is exploding.
Lies are fed to us like babies.
The spoon airplane has fallen out of the sky.
We pretend our FYP is catered to us on factual information
instead of popularized opinions of famous news anchors.
The world is exploding.
People are fleeing. People are taken, deported.
People are killed.
The revolution is already in the streets.
Police sirens have never filled Fredonia as much as they do now — have you noticed?
I noticed the rise in sirens during FredFest weekend.
I thought that was months away.
If you are still scared,
Put your head back in the sand.
It is safer, it is calmer.
I want to go back, too.
Get back in touch with reality.
The world is exploding.
The revolution is already in the streets.
Not at the beach.
Not in the sand.
Not in the gender-neutral bathroom.
The world is exploding.
Scrolling on your feed won’t save me.
Or you.
I am finding the meaning of my life again.
This is my plea for you to find yours.
The world is exploding.
This poem is my way of doing something about it.
This is a way I am finding a meaning.
A reason to search for meaning.
What will you do?
The world is exploding.