i wrote this during the 2008 election cycle. it's out of sequence, so it won't be up very long. it's about my perceptions of obama in the lead up to november....

the point is that this isn't new. not only did i not buy into the hope, but i was actually deeply disillusioned that the country fell for it so badly - and to an extent seemed to legitimately buy into it.

-

face in sand and textbooks filled with dread
crazy ideals swirl inside your head
the rhetoric of competition just deflates
how is it that some beings can actually relate?

no. no. no. n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-o. what i say is....

(chirping)

psst.
it's ok.
it's safe out here.
the warmth of the sand is lost, but i think that you might find that the crispness of the air is refreshing in it's own respect.

pssst.
it's ok.
we would like you to reappear.
i know that it seems as though you can't, but if you yank that head out of the sand...

...your descendants might some day spread some wings and float off into the galaxy!
that's what you've always wanted, isn't it?
just to fly off into the galaxy?
to spread some wings and float away?
oh, what a wonderful goal that is.

first...
enjoy the breeze.
it's been so long, hasn't it?
now...
take a look at the world around you..
and look what you've done.

i'm not just saying that.
really.
take a look around you...
look what you've done.
put down the sports and the porn and the reality tv and the badly acted reinterpretations of star trek and look what you've done!

in what,
in the name of democracy?
and the spread of human rights?
of freedom of speech,
and of freedom of thought?
look what you've done!
our most cherished axioms are tainted now, they're done.

you shoot your neighbour in the face, you think you're free.
you shoot my sibling in the face, tell me i'm free.
they'll blame it on me,
but this is not my hypocrisy.
you're shooting people in the face and telling them they're free.

no.
i don't want to be
part of this polity
that would ignore these pleas
if it's up to me,
i'll choose not to be
in your community
if you'll ignore these pleas

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/first-movement