Hope is not the thing with feathers
That comes home to roost
When you need it most.
Hope is an ugly thing
With teeth and claws and
Patchy fur that's seen some shit.
It's what thrives in the discards
And survives in the ugliest parts of our world.
Able to find a way to go on
When nothing else can even find a way in.
It's the gritty, nasty little carrier of such diseases as
Optimism, persistence,
Perseverance and joy,
Transmissible as it drags its tail across your path
and
Bites you in the ass.
Hope is not some delicate, beautiful bird,
Emily.
It's a lowly little sewer rat
That snorts pesticides like they were
Lines of coke and still
Shows up on time to work the next day
Looking no worse for wear.
About time! Way too often I hear "hope" that clearly indicates wishful thinking ("I hope it will work out"). Hope without work, without action, seems meaningless at this point. See Rebecca Solnit's columns and books. Ditto for me "optimism" and "joy." What I can muster is pointed sardonic humor, usually aimed at the stupidity, insanity, illegality and cruelty favored by the administration and the gutless capitulation and/or greed of the institutions and individuals supporting it. That will have to do for the duration. That sarcasm isn't aimed at those who have, mostly out of ignorance, blindly supported what is now trashing them. See https:// leavingmaga.org. EOR (end of rant!) Thanks for the poem. Onward sewer rats!
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