Countdown to the New Year

 

10-9-8-
2025’s act is ending, with 2026’s waiting to enter from the wings
I hear it breathing, bringing along a great beast on a short leash
to be released with fireworks, fanfare and celebration.
Will it be friend or foe?  Can the constitution withstand it?
I’ll be at home with 3 or 4 friends and a half-gallon of eggnog
before we begin to nod off and head home to our beds.
The new year will enter freely, and the monster with it
even if we skip the fireworks display and its noise and smoke.
The racket made sense to me, when as a child grandma urged
us to take out all the pots and pans and bang them
to keep evil spirits out of the new year, to scare them away.
Now, I think of the fireworks as torpedoes and bombs
with the smell of war burning, boiling up from the launching sites.
There is no chasing them away.  Dogs look for re-assurance.
Will fireworks chase evil from the new year? Can the beast be tamed?
-7-6-5-
My government cannot re-assure me.  It has its fingers in war zones
everywhere in the Arab world and in South and Central America.
It works with Russia against Ukraine and with Israel against Palestine. 
It threatens to invade Venezuela.
And here in the US of A, it fights against immigrants and brownness,
seeking to strengthen the hold of white supremacy over our home.
What can be done?  We marched for democracy with No Kings rallies
one and two, and are about to launch No Kings rally number three.
Tools of the government try to squeeze us into compliance with their
policies and violence, and though it seems they succeed in Congress,
they’re losing ground in state elections. One step forward.
Two steps back.  The tools of this government release conserved land
to oil, mineral, and coal exploitation, cut funding to science and medical advances,
and in general, reverse any narrative of harmony between human health
and the land and water we rely upon for the continuance of life. 
They find climate change unreal.  The government’s tools have not been listening. 
Hearing would interfere with profit.
Hearing would work toward equal rights for the land,
for women and Black and brown and poor and nations around the world.
Hearing would use our tax dollars to support health care at home and abroad.
Hearing would seek sustainability in the use of natural resources.
The beast helps its President build his own memorial ballroom
and take John F. Kennedy’s memorial for his own.
The beast laughs as the President lays the groundwork
for golf courses and towers around the world.
What can be done?
-4-3-2-
We the people continue the pressure of massive protests against the tools
that act on us.   Some of us will close doors against the beast
and join the resistance with our dollars and rallying cries.
Some will continue to pet the beast hoping to calm its anger. 
Some of us will stay indoors and witness from the safety of our homes
as forces of democracy thrive and grow against the beast of fascism.
We see the David growing in front of the Goliath, preparing to
fight for life and breath as the beast grins from the steps
of churches and government.  We feed the side we want to prevail.
-1
I sit home and witness.  I am led to trust the movements of those
who stand up.  Who use their bodies so it is not easy to violate the rights
of free people.  Who use their voices in the streets, in debate,
in poetry and prose.  Who use their hearts to light the way,
to write the way, and to share their light with others.

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2025 Susan L. Chast