What the Hell is Going On Around Here?

What the hell is going on? What

is this recklessness? Leaders

and followers, people we knew,

they see forests burning and laugh,

see murder and justify it, see

common sense and start screaming

and rolling around on the floor

like Hitler and vomit 

deranged racist speech. 

They say it's their civil right

to sneeze viral mucous in my face.

They say they're all about the

White Race, which--this just in--

doesn't exist. We're all humans.

One species. Google it. 

Is it a pill? Propaganda?

What makes them insanely

lethal and lethally insane?

A drug? Hypnosis? A hustler

with a blond barge atop his head?

A yearning for a violent absolute?

(I refer my colleague to the comment

about Hitler I made moments ago.)

What is this burning of science

at the stake? This goddamn

making shit up and trying to

wing it when knowledge can

put things right? This living

in White basements and thinking

that they're the whole world?

What the hell is going on around here?

It's a drunken parade with guns, a pageant

of stupidity, a carnival of hatred. 

Grow up, wash your hands but

don't wash your hands like Pilate,

pretend the facts are true: a mask

is good for me and you. Broaden

your horizons. Read some books.

Listen to Duke Ellington. Smash

your shrunken-head view 

of a fantasy America. Stop

fearing people you don't know.

Leave the cult. Listen to your children.

Settle the fuck down. What the hell!

What the hell is going on around here?

hans ostrom 2020