we are not number one

Kosi Eguchi '23

RESILIENCE OF FIRE, KATELYN WANG '23

we are not number one

Kosi Eguchi '21

we are not number one, far from it.

in constant struggle to beat the other;

there is no united cuz all is divided.

we lost another icon who fought til the death;

a dove soaring away, stranding us in rough tides of riot, churning the sea of protest.

yet there is no time to shed a tear

for yet another battle looms near.

they tear at each other trying to pierce under the already bloodied armor

while we do nothing but watch our kingdom crying

under a hail of tear gas flying.

our callousness, a disease,

infecting one another with our own selfish deeds.

while a pandemic stands ready to seize

with a brush of the devil’s hand, another

piling atop the two hundred thousand tall.

‘will you shut up man?’

but no, not til the proud boys receive

an order

to ‘stand by’

not goodbye

to the racism etched in our past.

present.

future.

change is not coming.

we claim to be helping with our electric cars and fancy solutions

stifling our planet’s cries with the pillow of her hospice bed.

as she suffocates on the carbon dioxide that our respirators feed;

the spiked iv dripping in our oil, sewage, greed.

the pendulum swinging, tik tok

tracking our failures

passing the hours

chasing eternity. a losing battle.

land of the free?

the bullshit we utter.

wearing a badge:

a license to murder.

point zero-zero-one-one seconds pass by

without blinking an eye.

of course all lives matter but our society just splatters

the blood of black mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers

it’s time to break the silence

from all this gun violence

lies have been spoken,

for mr. president, we are not great.

or good.

for fuck’s sake we are broken.

we are not number one.

far from it.