Poem - Punchline
Jan. 21st, 2015 05:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I hope to never become a symbol for anything. I've seen what happens to the unfortunate ones who become rallying cry for a larger injustices or social movements. They transcend humanity, and in that act, their life escapes the anchoring world of facts and truth. The poem “Punchline” speaks to how our society feeds on those who become its symbols.
Punchline
Poem for Day 021 - 20150121
Pray for the woman,
pity the man,
you've become a symbol,
and lost your humanity.
The gods know your name,
and people speak it out loud.
You are raised to the sky
or cast to the funeral pyre.
Neither direction matters,
be you villain, hero, or martyr.
You are a talisman,
magical bauble of the cause.
Symbolic fetish of injustice,
amulet of social movements,
you're larger than life,
and no longer a person.
Blood to lubricate,
bones to gnaw,
flesh to use
against those we hate.
No turning back,
one-way journey,
the narrative is always right,
and the punchline is you.
© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.
Punchline
Poem for Day 021 - 20150121
Pray for the woman,
pity the man,
you've become a symbol,
and lost your humanity.
The gods know your name,
and people speak it out loud.
You are raised to the sky
or cast to the funeral pyre.
Neither direction matters,
be you villain, hero, or martyr.
You are a talisman,
magical bauble of the cause.
Symbolic fetish of injustice,
amulet of social movements,
you're larger than life,
and no longer a person.
Blood to lubricate,
bones to gnaw,
flesh to use
against those we hate.
No turning back,
one-way journey,
the narrative is always right,
and the punchline is you.
© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.