If truth were a truncheon
and logic a scythe
and facts were a finger—
a poke in the eye,
then their smack or their cut
would be suitable tools
to counter corruption
and falsehood and fools.
But truth is a concept
and logic a skill,
and facts are for science,
while lies are for thrill;
corruption’s for profit,
and profit is yuge;
and fools lack self-knowledge—
they’re stuck as the stooge.
So temper your weapons
and fight back in kind;
abandon persuasion,
abandon the mind;
and dull your compassion,
for their side has none.
But go vote your ass off,
lest they will have won.
D. R. Goodman teaches martial arts in Berkeley and Oakland, California. She is the author of Greed: A Confession from Able Muse Press, a past winner of the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, and twice winner of the Able Muse Write Prize for poetry. Her poems have appeared in Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry, and in many other journals.