Poem: Våken

I am awake, I am woke.
DEI of the mind,
Diversity and all the rhymes.

Critiques of this are unmerited, unjustified.
Wanna provoke? Peddle lies?

I chose my stances, not jaded vances.
I stand my ground, deflecting claptrap hounds.

Wake up, oh ye of little faith.
Wake up and smell the coffee,
Before the shifting climate deprives you of this taste,
Before the world around you goes turvy-topsy.

Orange apes and raging blank slates
Are only the start, the troubling symptom,
That all has not been well
In Lotus Land,
That all hell’s broken loose
O’er the shifting sand.

Feigning change we’ve legislated mercy
While busting unions, cursing homeless
Despising workers, and rebuilding Rome, yes.

Yes, we’ve boomed our way to a bust,
Gen exed our way to the Y,
Preached the good news until looking down at our unzipped fly.

Embarrassed, ashamed, behind in the game,
New gens rising up while we’ve sipped Kool-Aid.

Hurrying and scurrying while
Rome burns and fiddles sizzle in the flames,
We’ve ran out of disease names.

Just to call it dis-ease, dismissing ease amidst
Dismal trees, in cloud-covered valleys.

In Silicon rallies, of stocks and bonds and travelling circuses,
Of conmen cussing our well-deserved bonuses.

My, I’ve learned a lot of lessons throughout these years,
Despite my ignorance, excepting my phobias and tears.

I’ve done the boogie man and played the fool,
I’ve sang “We don’t need no education” as I’ve
Overdone school.

I’m no saint, no martyr, no role model,
Just a reformed jackass who’s releasing himself from the
Illusions, torture racks and coddles.

God, if you’re up there,
Or even in these trees,
Please spare a moment
For this failure called me.

I don’t deserve a lick of your attention,
Unlike gaza, ukraine or somalia
But I still plead that I don’t disintegrate
Like former yugoslavia.

I need a fix, not a needle, not a pill
Not a sniff, not a chew or cheap thrill.

Fix my mind, fix my heart, fix my attitude
Help me restart, help me rebuild.

Wake up, awake, get woke,
Before you spiritually, mentally, financially and physically
Go broke.

It’s no negative, it’s no joke,
Do it today, and . . .

That’s all she wrote.

~ Gunnar Våken