WHAT IS IT DIES TODAY

All laws blown off like leaves

cold hate slides down the streets

misrule usurps routine

gross insults turd up speech

no fact seems safe to state

bland lies smear every screen

mean crowds chant gangster words

while children drown in reach

wild anger poisons friends

restraint’s gone back to bed

the sky turns dark then red

the demon claws his prey

his minions get their way

what is it dies today

Version first published in Rat's Ass Review, Winter 2020; reprinted in [Capitol] Hill Rag, July 2021