Friday, May 29, 2015

His World Is on Fire

Never minding

that the Founders didn't want
an establishment of religion
in these United States

there's no reason America
shouldn't hand the mic

to Ted Cruz's
conservative Christian rapper groupies
We Are Watchmen

so they can
set ablaze "the voice of the Founding
speaking in the contemporary tongue"

in "Set It On Fire"

which starts off decently with

"It’s like we’re back
in the late ’70s

Labor force is dead
emboldened enemies"

and one can almost hear Eminem
stressing out before going on stage
in the lines

"When power is concentrated
centrally and federally

it creates dependency
that’s mentally like leprosy"

and sounding a little
like a recent grad
with an English degree

who is just so happy
to have found paying work

but okay

not bad.

And presumably
a shout-out to God's
intelligent design in

"We are the greatest nation
that’s ever been implanted on the planet"

and of course
"we never panic
when things get rough"

but rather perform
some seductive new dance move
in the name of free trade
and right-to-work laws when

"we put our hands up on the granite
and grind for righteousness."

Then finally revealing
the buried lede

we're asked to "imagine the Reagan revolution
part two
on our fingertips."

Luckily while we're doing that
the poor intern
re-checks the assignment

realizes he's short of the word count
and pens another verse

"We the people
are the future of our nation
we’ll never relinquish it

Let the American dream die?

Nah we’d never
even think of it

We’re at the brink of it
but we’ll survive.

We’re Washington and Lincoln’s kids."

It's a somewhat tortured rhyme
but it gets the point across
has some history

and is the best we can do
in Obama's America.

Then a call-and-response
for "courageous conservatives"
to "rise up and roll out."

Finally the last verse ends

"It only takes one spark to light the fire

We’re rising
reigniting the embers
that have been burning inside."

Writing is hard

and it's mean to mock
any sincere effort

but sadly

even the greatest MC
at the Grand Old Party
probably won't get the Millennial vote

as it's not the Cruz

but the destination.

This poem © 2015 Emily Cooper.