do not do them how they do you,
though they’ll attempt the imprint.
trauma can seal the future
if presented as a given.
if you cannot be a hammer,
does that make you a nail?
if you become the hammer,
who do you strike down first?
if the hammer
only shows you its force,
will you ever learn
how to extract what’s false?
never let only being taught the stick
prevent you from living the carrot.
regurgitating
what kept you down
only reflects
what those
who’ve held power
tell you is powerful.
how they prop up the obsolete
as universal law,
when we’ve clearly
grown out of dial-up.
but what happens
when we freaky friday
into roles we’ve only witnessed
beneath the heel of?
will we find darker people
to justify pressing down
to stay standing?
will we erase what challenges
our harmful?
will we wreck lives for
pittling nuisance?
will we burn the evidence
to keep our elevation?
will we ever grow out
of the payback
that plays out
in positioning
pretending
to be progress?
will we ever learn from those
who have wiped out generations,
that their way is dinosaur
before the meteor?
will we choose something
besides
putting another through
what we paid
too dearly for?
as the dying animal
clings to past power’s purpose,
may we finally learn from
past pain
to see domination
as a thing of the past.
From Well Played (Not a Cult, 2020) by Beau Sia. Copyright © 2020 by Beau Sia. Used with the permission of the publisher.