JOHNSTONE

There will be times,
oh my child,
when it all seems hopeless.

When the trees all have QR codes
and the bank boys and balrogs
are holding all the cards.

When your refrigerator tells you
"THE IRANIAN PEOPLE YEARN FOR FREEDOM"
and your electric shaver can smell
if you've been reading Parenti.

When you're on a first-name basis
with the police surveillance drones
and your colonoscopy screen
in the exam room
is running ads for Northrop Grumman.

And it is true,
oh my child,
it is true that the machine is mighty
and that its armor is very thick.

It is true that the bank boys
have long fingers
and they are putting marbles
in our minds.

The sky is red,
and the moon has a FOR SALE sign,
and parts of Palestinians
are turning up in our tap water.

But oh my child, do not be daunted,
and oh my child, do not despair.
There are forces within us
the Flock cameras can't see.
There are depths within us
not even the balrogs can reach.

Beneath all the doomscroll addiction psychosis,
beneath all the oceans of trauma and toil,
a creature is stirring
and opening its eyes,
its eyes full of primordial déjà vu,
its eyes full of Big Bang recursions
full of eyes
watching eyes
watching eyes
watching eyes.

It looks at you,
and you meet its gaze.

Everything goes still.

You remember what you are.

Oh my sweet, darling child,
you see it now.

You see that This
could never be contained.

_______________

Reading by Tim Foley.

Basically we've got two choices: we either aggressively denormalize Israel or we watch our society become more and more Israeli.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israelis are happy for Americans to die for Israel, but they are unwilling to put their own lives on the line for the Zionist project.

Reading by Tim Foley.

One of the dumbest popular narratives you see today is the idea that Zionists persuaded a reluctant Trump to start a war with Iran after he was re-elected, like they were chasing him around going "Would you like to bomb Iran?" like the guy from Green Eggs and Ham while he yelled "Not in a box! Not with a fox!" until he eventually caved in.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Revolutionary optimism is a skill that you learn over time. Like any other skill, it takes practice to get good at it. Like any other skill, it can seem very difficult when you first start trying.

Reading by Tim Foley.