I hold you responsible
for this ache.
For the obscene display of rage
aimed at people
doing more with less,
and then less with less
the asylum seekers,
the Dreamers,
the mother with two jobs,
the child who hasn’t eaten
since yesterday at school,
a murder charge for abortion
after nonconsensual sex.
We don’t say rape
because criminal charges rarely stick
to sex traffickers’ accomplices,
to men who launder monsters,
to racist supremacists,
or anyone with an extra dime.
But they stick to women
To Black people.
To immigrant children.
So yes, actually
I hold you responsible
for the self-righteous indifference,
for the erosion of empathy,
for the apolitical choice.
Politics are not something you do.
It shows.
*from @moms.who.write, which is a FB page and more with all poems written by Nikki…thank you, Nikki. I believe this poem speaks, and speaks eloquently, for itself and this moment.