Bearing Witness to the Times: Sanctions and Bans (A National Nursery Rhyme)

Protesters at Los Angeles International Airport
(AP photo by Reed Saxon)

                                           

Sanctions and bans,

Sanctions and bans.

The stroke of a pen

Disrupts many plans.

Plans for a future,

Plans for a life.

The rich make the rules,

The rules make the strife.

Strife in the east,

Strife in the west.

The fearful and greedy

Dictate what is best.

Best for the nation,

Best for the land;

But where will the people –

The working class stand?

They stand at the airports

With signs in their hands.

They stand up to protest

The sanctions and bans.

Sanctions and bans,

Sanctions and bans,

The courts put a kink

In the president’s plans.

Plans now upended;

Whose plans will we see?

Will they be for a people

Who yearn to breathe free?

                                 ~ CK

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From my introductory post:

The best thing that poets can do is to bear witness to the times – articulate what is happening in the moment; speak to the real life experiences of your people.  I am setting myself a goal to write a poem each week that reflects what I see and experience in the life of our nation... if I can write one poem a week there will be some chronicle of our sacred/tested/doubtful union...

"Thousands protest against Trump travel ban in cities and airports nationwide"
(from The Guardian)

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