A Poem: With Kindness

In honor of the election season, (and, admittedly, to introduce a new section of my site that will eventually have more content) I would like to break from my scheduled posting…um…schedule, and present a poem I was inspired to write.

With a knife

I have cut the cake into slices.

Little slices, big slices, some get the flowers.

Here is your slice, here is mine.

You cannot have my slice. It is for me. That one is yours.

Aren’t you grateful to me?

And my knife?

There is an attitude shared by some creatives, that you should keep direct-action politics out of your art. I reject that view, as what is the point of art if not to inspire both thought and action? Perhaps the attitude is more akin to the idea that direct-action politics is somehow gauche, akin to fart-jokes and jump-scares; clumsy and crude, rather than adroit or clever. Not art, but common.

I reject that view too, obviously.

It should be no surprise to anyone that I am a radical goblinist, and my antifa and anarco-communist leanings should be well documented — I hope. If you haven’t gleaned that from my writing, than I’ve been doing a very poor job as an artist, as I do believe that — as Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios has said, that all art is collaborative.

I was truly inspired to write this poem. It popped into my head out of the blue one day, nearly fully formed. I hope I don’t need to explain it, it’s satirical goals nor its antifa soul. I hope the knife is clear.

But just in case it isn’t, please vote. I’m not going to tell you who I think you should vote for; not just because if you’re reading this and haven’t left my site in a huff already, I have a pretty clear idea who you would vote for; but also because in every egalitarian utopia I’ve ever heard of, voting is a pivotal part of what makes society work, no matter your ideology.

Does every current democratic system in the world have problems? Most definitely, including some that are pure propaganda techniques rather than legitimate voting systems. I still ask you to vote, even if it’s a sham in your country, because it’s a good habit and social expectation to encourage. “Buy into a corrupt system?” No, fight the corrupt system, but I don’t think the best way to fight is by checking out and saying “voting is for suckers and losers.” That mindset only helps the corrupt. Direct action is the best way to fight, and that can happen any time, not just during election season.

Cynicism is not wisdom. Inaction is not courage.

That, I think, is the goblin way: embrace the meta-modernist ideals of sincerity, community, and absurdist hope in the face of insurmountable obstacles. Fight those who would divide us, challenge the narratives you are told, be skeptical of fear, trusting of love, and reject convention.

Be gay, do crimes.

See you in the gutter!