My country tells us,
"You are free!"
But I don’t believe them.
Free?
Free to work five days a week,
only to find my bills
still outweigh my paycheck?
Free to starve
if I fail to budget
every last penny?
Free to rack up hundreds
of thousands
in medical debt
through no fault of my own?
Free to spend every weekday
wondering if my son
will come home from school
in a body bag
with bullet holes in his chest?
Free to pick from a shelf
of “innovative” capitalistic products
that all look
exactly
the
same?
Free to choose
which social media giant
will devour most of my time
while earning more in ad revenue
in one minute
than I’ll see in a year?
Free to weep
as human beings are
herded into concentration camps
while red-hatted crowds
root for pure hatred?
Free to endure misogyny and racism
from the so-called "leaders"
of this “great” society?
I start to wonder
if we’re having
a semantics problem.
I thought freedom meant liberation,
not gaslighting a nation
into indentured servitude.
But if the United States of America
is “free,”
then I’d better take a closer look
at what that word is supposed to mean.
Because in my dictionary,
it means something
entirely different.
About the Creator
Lolly Vieira
Welcome to my writing page where I make sense of all the facets of myself.
I'm an artist of many mediums and strive to know and do better every day.
https://linktr.ee/lollyslittlelovelies
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Comments (3)
Powerful reset of definitions when your dictionary deepens, truth unfolds. Thought-provoking and vital. 🖤📝
Gosh this packed a punch! It's the sad reality. Loved your poem!
Well said! Words are imbued with the meaning we give them and we have to back control of this narrative