21 – The things I didn’t say…

You’ve got a bit of hate there
stuck between your teeth

cover up that
weak mind,
it’s embarrassing

not cool dude
more wrong side of history
than team spirit or
patriotism, even

maybe patriarchy

kinda red car
nuclear missile
escalation
compensation

if you ask me

which you didn’t

and wouldn’t

because you know
already
everything I didn’t say

and you’re gonna
wear it like a badge of honor
proud and defiant
full of fear and lockstep
down a path
towards an epitaph
that dogma won’t ever resolve

Poem ©2023, Jen Payne, written in response to an NRA backpack. #NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month. If you like this poem, you can read similar in my books and zines, available from Three Chairs Publishing on my ETSY SHOP. They come autographed, with gratitude and a small gift.