A protest song inspired by sjr1000

Frig & Frack dance a dance
To see who is astute
They run an oil rag up a pole
To see who will salute

Nobody seems to see it
They just watch TV
Corporate's just overjoyed!
They can dance for *FREE!

They just quash the media
Build gas-guzzling trucks
People purchase in their millions
So Frig & Frack make BUCKS!

Nobody seems to wonder
Why water tastes so funny
Why their kids have cancer
Why... Big Oil's makin' MONEY!


Yeah... nobody seems to care a fig
Most people aren't that hyper
Now Corporate can laugh and jig...

...and we all Pay the Piper!


SoulSurvivor
(C) 1/16/2017

You mistake my tears for sadness,
Instead of lakes of rage

As I scream in defiance,
against the status quo

You fall in line with the masses,
And you are now my foe

Whether in opposition, or the silent approach,
You've spoken volumes, to disenfranchised folks

Is ignorance your anthem,
Or is your lack of caring a joke

Blind eyes or indifference,
Cities go up in smoke

A pattern to repeat itself,
Until false realities are broke

The time for waiting is over,
We've pulled off racism's cloak

With us or against us,
Its time the people woke.

The naysayers will tell you to quit

The people who don't want change will tell you it is pointless

The opposition will ridicule you and dehumanize you

But remember this,
The fallen commend you
The disenfranchised
The ones who fought for rights they'd never have
The people who live in fear require you
The powers that be fear you
The leaders who cannot lead the unruly fear you
The poison of doubt is relinquished as you march

No change is easy, so keep marching, keep screaming, flood the streets with the voices of truth.

The land of the free can only be, when that slogan is for all people.

So let them mock you, but do not let them defeat you
So let them curse you, but do not give them your hatred
So let them doubt, but in return give us hope

The world is watching and we need you.

i’ve long dreamt
of black flags in the streets
tonight i marched beneath
the shadow of their wings

shoulder-to-shoulder
in hope and solidarity
an anarchist professor
with a climate change activist
an independent journalist
and one of my students

as mid-November winds tugged
at her pink-and-brunette hair
she lifted a hand-drawn sign
of a gigantic sneaker
smashing a ****
and i felt
for not the first time
an enormous sense of pride

how humbling to at once
inspire and be inspired by
an eighteen-year-old
punk and artist
who asked to borrow
The Moral Imperative of Revolt
two scant months ago
then took to the streets
to oppose and depose
a twisted fascist virtuoso

for two whole hours
we hundreds owned the streets
we marched down Rosalind
Central and Orange Avenue
as protest slogans rang angelic
we raised hell and found heaven
in liberty equality and solidarity

but then the pigs closed in
cordoned to Lake Eola
to scream acquiescent rhetoric
at the fish sleeping
blissful in their innocence
beneath the jet black surface

a half-dozen cops in riot gear
astride horses loomed
ominous before us
backlit by the headlights
of the aggravated motorists
our march had forestalled

as the people abandoned the streets
we’d won so easily
i felt my chest wilt beneath
the weight of forsaken opportunity
my eyes scanned the remaining crowd

four stood strong
rooted to the concrete
by the world's weight
anchored by conviction
an anarchist professor
an independent journalist
a climate change activist
and a freshman college student

i heard the professor whisper to his student
i heard him say she'd put herself in harm’s way
that they'd lost the day when the marchers
turned their backs and walked away
but she didn’t flinch or move an inch
she stood silent and vigilant
shoulder-to-shoulder
chin held almost as high
as her ****-smashing protest sign
and her matching *******

and in that moment
i could’ve died
smiling

A poison is in the land
without antidote
we wait the effect.
May God bless America
in this her poisonous state.

Freedom is a natural right
Those who take it are criminals.
No excuse is good enough,
And every occurrence is evil.
Some try to tell you a big lie
That it is all for the better good.
If you fall for this brand of talk
Your head must be solid wood.

Knock on wood
Step on a crack
Try to get your dignity back
After you sold
Your own soul.
You are totally lost
You’re stuck in a hole.

Too many of us live inside a
Bankrupt daily existence.
We all work hard pay bills
And offer no resistance
To those who change rules
That never hurt themselves.
They only worry about their wealth
And never about anyone else.

Knock on wood
Step on a crack
Try to get your dignity back
After you sold
Your own soul.
You are totally lost
You’re stuck in a hole.

No, it doesn’t have to be this way
We can stand up and fight back.
We can change the twisted laws;
Get ourselves onto the right track.
But that means we cannot accept
The dangerous fear of status quo.
We have realize that this is not
The way things just have to go.

Knock on wood
Step on a crack
Try to get your dignity back
After you sold
Your own soul.
You are totally lost
You’re stuck in a hole.

Lift up your voice and shout.
Even if it feels a bit strange.
We know what we’re about.
Praying and singing for change.

Work and sing for change
Just as hard as politicians lie.
Call them out for their untruths.
Ask them when, how and why.
Don’t accept weak excuses.
They have far too many of those.
Make their equivocation useless.
Make them keep their lying lips closed.

Sing if you’re tired of defeat.
Sing if you are willing to try.
Sing to everybody you meet.
It may take some power on high.

Don’t forget what is needed.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
It’s hard to cheat the wary
By trickery  played on your eyes.
Keep on insisting on honesty.
Make them all stick to the subject.
If they don’t answer the questions.
You know just who not to elect.

Lift up your voice and shout.
Even if it feels a bit strange.
We know what we’re about.
Praying and singing for change.

She is a girl

She has two sisters, a dog
And a pair of worn-out headphones in her pocket

She is fifteen

She plays violin in the school orchestra
And sings duets in the sun

She is left-handed

She’s also pansexual
(Just thought you should know)

<><><>

She is a girl
(A different girl, mind you)

She has bright hair and dark eyes
And a sky of freckles spanning her body

She is a netball player

She listens to everything that’s said
And laughs at everything in response

She is an Aquarius

Her girlfriend is an Virgo
(Is this what they call diversity?)

<><><>

He is a boy

He is on the males’ baseball team
And recites prophetical speeches in the dugout

He is an early riser

He likes old-fashioned comedy movies
And his favourite colour is either orange or black

He is graduating next year

He’ll finally get to ask his school’s star pitcher to prom
(Finally is the right word)

<><><>

‘She’ is a boy
(A different boy, mind you)

‘She’ lives in the countryside
And travels 2 hours to campus each morning

‘She’ is a realist

‘She’ studies human relations
And has wanted to visit Rome since 'she' was eight

‘She’ is a part-time barista

‘She’ prefers the pronoun ‘he’
(No big deal if you forget though)

<><><>

They are people

They have people they love
And people who love them

They are people

They may have changed to you
And yet they haven’t changed to themselves

They are people
They are still people

<><><>

(Just thought you should know)

<><><>

We don’t get to pick our family
Or the country in which we’re born
Most families are quite imperfect
High praise will seldom adorn

Our country acts as, in absence of,
A national family
We’ve come together as mighty fist
To overcome tragedy

Just as you have complained about;
The faults of sister and brother;
The arbitrary dad’s imperfect justice;
The imperfectly care-worn mother

So it is with the family national
Not every behavior good
Complaints and suggestions are rational
Don’t banish before understood

One’s right to protest what isn’t good
For the national family
A founding right that’s understood
Wherever that protest be

Some family members are not all good
Most not prone to riot
Some bring dirt to the nation’s house
While others stay, clean, and quiet

If you demand “protestors leave”
You fail to understand
There’s no place to go but home
And clean the dirt that demands

National attention not just blind scorn
Your so self-righteous display
You can help with hearts reborn
To clean or get out of the way