In a large East Asian country, a police-state occupation

has created cringing terror to control the population.

Those who practice Falun Dafa,  horridly face reeducation;

without trial they’re imprisoned. Slavery is the solution

that the Party there has chosen as a means of persecution

while inhuman vivisection has become an institution.

          Now the world we must inspire

          to bring down the Red Empire.

Governmental propaganda has proclaimed an infiltration;

they have mobilized their forces against peaceful meditation,

and the call for full disclosure to the people of the nation.

For these crimes there’s no admission, nor a claim of contribution

in the death of all the victims. We must make a resolution

to investigate the torture and demand some restitution

          for the hundreds that require

          the fall of the Red Empire.

Quieting the citizens and quelling their imagination

through their lethal strong-arm tactics, and public misinformation.

Tolerance is now illegal? It should be an inspiration

for the masses to seek freedom, and a peaceful revolution!

Basic human rights are missing and there is no Constitution,

but to speak these things aloud, means quick and certain execution--

          yet they cannot kill desire

          to live without the Red Empire.

(c) 2017 - dustygrein

(an empiric in trochaic octameter)

** Note: Never Again is happening again, while most of us have no idea how bad it is. In The People's Republic of China, practitioners of one of the most peaceful religious and philosophical belief system in history are faced with persecution at an almost genocidal level. Imprisonment, slavery, torture, organ-harvesting, execution--these are all being done in the name of the military communist regime that controls the largest country in the world.  It is not only heart-breaking, but mind-numbing in its scope. Not even the Nazi's perpetrated this level of dehumanization against so many, for no more than a call for tolerance and honesty. Do the research, please. Falun Dafa is NOT a system of political subversion, and these people deserve to have basic human rights.

The Good Book says, children respect your parents. 

We are less than a generation from there being no distinction between the way kids speak to their parents and their tone towards an enemy of equal age. 

She gave them all she could. As a single parent work was a priority and she felt guilty for not being home enough. She did not stop their rudeness with discipline. She hoped their lack of appreciation would dissipate and that she would be loved for all the many difficult sacrifices when they realized she gave her life for them with her golden heart.

While living in poverty to promote the children, they succeeded to great heights. 

Unfortunately they had not been taught to respect her. 

She dies inside when they judge her and insist she is intolerable for bogus reasons so that she does not embarrass them.

They lie to their adult friends to facilitate staying away from "home."

Ordinary polite, successful people are accepted well in society while they fuck over the only parent they ever had who somehow finds it still easy to love them as she sits alone for the rest of her life without them or "theirs" in it.

After Hannah Barnett killed herself, my school smoked weed in her honor. After the funeral. And it wasn't really for her. It was April 20th and people had priorities set over some theater geek throwing herself off the catwalk.

My Insta was flooded with black boys killing themselves. Not the same way Hannah did. They were hotboxing. Hashtag, "4/20 Blaze-It. Girls in my classes with awful, crimson weaves that didn't match their skin color getting fucked up and loving it.

I asked myself where their parents were. Where Hannah's parents were. Why no one cared enough to honor her memory, even if few of us knew who she was. She was some thick-glasses white girl with shaggy blonde hair and hella acne. She liked watching anime and cosplaying when coming to school sometimes. She was an embarrassment to my school. A freak. An enigma. Even I have to admit that I didn't like associating with her.

We had science together, though. And we had to work on a project about Boyle's Law. And she had such a contagious smile. One that was genuine when I threw shade over at our teacher for being petty about our presentation time. One that was forced when I glanced down and saw the scars slipping out from under the sleeve of her sweater.

I saw her parents on TV. On the news. Neither were crying, but they stood in front of the closed down school and answered each of the reporter's questions.

I don't want to think that they didn't care about Hannah. But watching kids high themselves on weed and posting it on Instagram so shamelessly, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

©SelfTitled, 2017

The Good Book says all boys must lose their foreskins, as a sacrafice to God. Therefore, all newborn boys' tiny penises are placed under a knife and sliced into until a small piece of skin is produced, all while blood pools and babies wail. 

The Good Book says women during their bleeding times are dirty and must be shunned. Therefore, women sleep in holes during their time of the month where they remain until the bleeding ends. 

The Good Book says that a man must marry a woman, and must reproduce. Therefore, when those of the same gender are in love, they must be shunned, stoned, segregated to preserve the sanctity of marriage. 

The Good Book says that non-believers are sinners. That they must be persuaded to join the faith or die. Therefore, people have set up large organizations to convert the world, using food, water, and shelter as leverage to force those in need into joining their religion. 

The Good Book speaks of a man named Jesus, who preached of love and acceptance. Of forgiving your neigherbor and inviting your enemies to dine with you. But, his followers were silent and chose to pursue parts of the Good Book that perhaps aren't so good. 

A small man with small hands. All he wants is to be liked. No one likes him.

Does he know? No. He has no self-awareness.

He is an empty shell of a person. He is all bluster and contrivance. A scaffold of lies propping up a spineless sack of organic waste.

Those who support him do it out of spite, for they, too, feel empty. A promise was made by men who made themselves by stepping on everyone they could. These men created a system in which few would reap immeasurable wealth, obtained through the active privation of those not unscrupulous enough to realize that civilization is just a lie.

A lie invented by those who use it as a veil. Behind it, they belie all its tenets. They steal, they prevaricate, they cheat.

The people who supported the sad, empty man thought they were in on the gag. They thought, because they look like him, they might be entitled to the spoils of theft and graft. But they're the biggest suckers of all. Pawns manipulated by the most banal of villains: the narcissist. The man who seems to love only himself, but has no idea what love is.

All he knows is how to gratify his ego, the consequences to the rest of us be damned.

It was just a stitch, of course it was snipped. The garment must be pristine, always pristine. This is how we were raised! We take care of our things. Isn't it wonderful though? So colorful and complex! It was a wonderful gift, we cannot thank our parents enough. One day our children will have it, and theirs, and so on, so forth. Our wonderful coat, passed down through our family only. How Novel. Ignore that other stich. Better yet, Daniel! Daniel get the snippers. Though, can you believe the audacity? They think they're people. Look at it dare to stand out of line; it know what happens when they do. Examples must be made I suppose. Snip! Oh crumbles now it's got a run. Snips wont fix this hole. Oh dear the threads are all in a tizzy! 

Daniel! Daniel get the money. Just a little bit now. There, that's better. Gosh, they don't think. How could I wear these beautiful threads if they stop being a coat?