INVERTEBRATE

INVERTEBRATE
by Dee Allen.
___________

Invertebrate creature,
Lamest one.
Your condition is spineless.
Your position is weakness.
Your name is Progressive.
Your name is Liberal.

Invertebrate creature,
Servile one.
Obedience is your watchword.
Resistance, "a dirty word".
Your name is Progressive.
Your name is Liberal.

Invertebrate creature,
Passive one.
Capitalism is your comfort.
The greener kind, won't upset the apple cart.
Your name is Progressive.
Your name is Liberal.

Good citizen
Good intentions
And nothing to show
For them but
Bad tactics
That won't change shit,
Though the situation's
Appearance will change.
Questionable logic
That give support

To a decaying,
Dying system
Even the Right
Would fight to save.
Content to keep crawling.
Content to keep kneeling
Before the feet of leaders.

Algae
Has more spine than you----

You wish for peace.
I want that, too.
You have good intentions.
Good for you.
Conscious about the environment.
Good for you.
But are you conscious of
The immediate environment?
Of this neighbourhood? Of this city?
Sliding on in, oblivious, totally
Silent on a burning fact, a
Violent change so painfully obvious as
The new condo tower slowly
Being built up, storey by storey. Obvious as
The poor family driving away in a
Moving van, with their lives
Stored in taped, marked boxes, to
Parts unknown, high-priced
Out of the apartment they used to call home:

You gentrify
My block.