Poetry Wednesday #34

Flag Map of Kansas - Darwinek 1927-1961 Flag of Kansas [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Kansas

We are broke and broken:
Our state is hemorrhaging people
Nearly as fast as it is money.
And we're lost,
Having forgotten our past,
And been blinded to our future.
Where are the dreams that were?
Once we were home to
Abolitionists, outlaws
In a time of legal slavery.
We were founded by men
Who believed in equality,
Who fought violently to protect it,
Who shed blood—their own and others—
To defend it.
Raiders and rioters,
Bloody Kansas.
Now?
Fanatical Koch-suckers rule us, and
Work actively towards our ruin.
Double down.
Double down.
Double down.
Break the backs of the schools and
Students—
Pre-K through University.
Break the backs of the courts and
Justice—
If they and the governor disagree.
Break the backs of the workers and
People
To bolster our growing oligarchy.
Where are our dreams that once were?
What are our dreams that will be?