Touchy Subjects (DW Survivor)

[eeyore_grrl]

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                  Touchy Subjects



“Men are afraid women will laugh at them.
Women are afraid men will kill them.” – Margaret Atwood


they used to say never discuss politics with friends
but how can i tell if you value my life without such discussions
particularly now
	with Trump at the helm
	waiting impatiently for...


if they had gotten in when congress people still filled the hall
the mob, the riotous crowd,
	intent on their revolution against this country
there would have been more than five dead
	more damage, more death
		more rape

i know this because i’ve heard the threats against strong women
					        against women in power
i know this because 
			i am a woman

i know this because i’ve seen people
	so ready to explode
		at the slightest touch they explode their anger
			it spills from them like niagara falls
		taking hold however they think they know how 
	i’ve seen men explode in anger

anger and politics and violence against women
	they breach their own security and are out in the open
	white supremacist at the helm
		leading us not into temptation
			but into anger
	
i do talk politics and i do prejudge 
if his name speaks with sweetness from your mouth
and if you talk about her emails i will scream 
to the ends of the earth
and we will not be friends still, again
	because your politics are my life
	and i prefer my friends to care about me and mine
i breach social protocol 
		and here we are.

See and hear me here:

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Comments

[adoptedwriter]

“... leading us not into temptation
but into anger...”
This! Right here! This! Yesssss!

[swirlsofpurple]

Brilliantly put.

[gunwithoutmusic]

This was well-written and quite a good case for talking politics with your friends. I'm generally apolitical myself - that is to say, I of course have opinions on political subjects, but I can't stand that politics has become something more akin to team sports and how divided we all become because we'll do or say anything to see "our team" win. It's abhorrent to me the way many people will completely disregard the lives and well-being of their fellow people in the name of "winning."

[halfshellvenus]

because your politics are my life
Yes!

This reminded me of a political essay by a black voter in a swing state in 2016. He was a Bernie supporter who was voting for Hillary, and the other Bernie bros wanted him to vote for Bernie anyway. "I do not have the luxury of a protest vote," he said.

I do not understand people who say, "I don't see that much difference between the candidates, so why does it matter? It won't affect my life much anyway." Is that the very definition of privilege, if that's really true? And how can they NOT care about how the outcome affects other people's lives?

There are so many people in this country for whom the outcome of a presidential election is not, and has never been, simply "theoretical."

Well said.

[flipflop_diva]

This is SO well written and so good and just so relatable right now. I am especially fond of this part:

i do talk politics and i do prejudge
if his name speaks with sweetness from your mouth
and if you talk about her emails i will scream
to the ends of the earth

There are so many people, after these four years, that I will never look at the same. People who used to be my friends (we haven't necessarily been friends in a while since I knew them years ago but it still makes me sad).

Politics is life, especially lately, and I don't understand people who can't understand that.

[murielle]

As always, your poetry is passionate and hard-hitting.

Brava!