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Words as Weapons
Freedoms of speech and press are the unalienable factors of what constitutes a free society. They are what separate the U.S. and other free democracies from the authoritarian leadership principles held by Nazi Germany, Communist China, the U.S.S.R., and the Socialist dictatorships currently in power throughout South America. It’s what gives U.S. citizens the right to criticize our government’s actions, no matter who’s in power, without fear of repercussion or even death. I find it unequivocally revolting that there are those on the far Left in America today, including many Left-leaning poets and writers, who push for these freedoms to be stripped away from our population. Especially after the Liberal poets of the 1950s and 60s put their freedom on the line to fight for freedom of expression against the Conservative consensus culture of Cold War-era America. The idea of supporting censorship in any fashion, I believe, is a slap in the face to great poets like Allen Ginsberg and our recently lost Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who fought for these freedoms for all writers to enjoy. When the only plausible recourse against those who wish to take our freedoms from us is our voices, my words are my weapons in this war, and I refuse to be disarmed.
November 2020:
Bravo Company, 25th Infantry
P.F.C. (Poet First Class) Black Berets
Saigon –
Sticks and Stones
I see a future filled with Fools
Fighting Facebook Battles
Public Platform Platoons
And where Twitter is a Warzone
“Charlie Foxtrot![1]
Charlie Foxtrot!”
“Target in 140 Klicks”
Keyboard Strike Forces
Rapid Firing Fully Automatic
CAPS LOCKS and Points of Exclamation!!!
!!!!! !!! !!!!! !!! !!!!! !!! !!!!! !!! !!!!! !!! !!!!!
Morse Code Morons
Letting off Single Round Shots
Of Angry Faced Emoticons
A never-ending War of voiceless words
Social Media Soldiers
Continuously Dying
To be heard.
When Words are Weapons
Lives are only Numbers
1
2
3
Why are we fighting 4?
Big Tech has taken away our Humanity –
We are but Avatars
And you’re in the Jungle Baby!
Wading through waist-deep waters
Holding Dictionaries and Scripture
High above our heads.
The Campus is a Combat Zone.
My Syntax is a Single Shooter Standoff
Against Black Shirted Squadrons
– Las Socialistas! –
Loading up Liberal Echo Chambers.
Fighting spectral Systematic Oppressors
Enemies unseen
Charlie in the trees!
The Enemy Hates Speech
That’s why anything you say
They don’t agree with
They call “Hate Speech.”
Tet Offensive –
Censorship of everything
They said Offends them.
“Political Correctness”
Is just Fascism
With a Friendly Face >:)
Totalitarian Toy Tanks rolling in
The Alphabet Block Towers tumble to the ground.
The Statue of Liberty gagged
By Terms and Conditions.
Guerilla Journalists under fire.
Scorched Earth –
Blamethrowers!
Cups filled with Steaming Hot Death!
The Best Part of being “Woke”
The Smell of Napalm in the Morning.
My Mouth’s a .357 Magnum
That I love to shoot off
I’m Armed to the Teeth
And my tongue doesn’t come
With a Trigger Warning.
I come from a Battle-Rap background
I’m a Merciless Metrical Mercenary
A Soldier of Soliloquy
I wasn’t trained to play nice
And let others win just
‘Cause they think that they’re right…
My job is to completely destroy you.
I drop Atomic Truth Bombs
On 3rd Party “Fact Checkers”
I don’t care about the
Collateral Damage because
FACTS DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS!
So FACT:
*** [Independent fact-checkers say this post includes false information] ***
FACT:
**** [Your post goes against our Community Standards and has been removed] ****
FACT:
***** [Censored for no reason – We just don’t like you or what you have to say] *****
At the point of Mental
Physical
Psychological Exhaustion.
I’m in a world of Shit.
Fighting Battles up a Hill
I’ll never be able to win.
But if I go down
At least I’ll go down Fighting.
As long as I have the power to Speak
The Powers-That-Be will never have Peace!
Because this is my Language. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My Speech is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
Without me, my Words are useless. Without my Words, I am useless. I must fire my Words true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will…
Before God, I swear this creed. My Language and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace!
Amen.
“At ease… Goodnight Ladies”
[1] Military Radio Signal for “Cluster Fuck”
Greg Wilder (also known by the stage name Slay! the Dragon) is an award-winning writer, full-time student, and spoken word performer, currently residing in Schenectady, N.Y. After a long, downhill battle with alcohol and drug addiction, Greg entered treatment in June of 2017 and rediscovered the therapeutic potential of art and writing. Today, with almost 4 years clean, Greg shares the healing power of poetry with other recovering addicts as an intern for a drug and alcohol treatment center. Greg received an A.S. in Human Services from SUNY Schenectady in May of 2020 and is currently enrolled in the Honors English Program at the University of Albany.
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