God has left the building.
No one listens to God.
No one cares.

All those battles for civil rights
Have been forgotten.

Truth and justice appear
On the table for show,
For visitors and guests
On special occasions.

Ego and personal wants
Trump truth and justice,
This has nothing to do
With current politics.

Truth be told, trumping truth
Predates the elections of 2016.

This has always been the way
People justify the means
To a desired outcome
That has nothing to do with humanity.

Shredding the paperwork.
Another way of saying
Case closed, leave it alone,
I have spoken, there is no recourse.

Shredding the paperwork
Is a warning that hopelessness
Is in the house.

Understand, the deck was marked
Back when the settlers arrived
And displaced native peoples,
And when people were shipped as cargo.

Shredders are the latest tools of choice.
I shredded your paperwork has become code
For You have been dismissed and rendered invisible.

Shredding the paperwork clears the room,
Removes all evidence of truth
That would contradict an ego
That merely wants what it wants,
To be in control.

Shredding the paperwork
is the means to a happy ending,
More satisfying than sex for some.

Shredding the paperwork,
Also code for Accountability
Don’t mean a damn thing,
And I can do what I want,
When I want to, whenever I want,
To whomever I want to!

Has anyone seen those Ten Commandments?

 

Janet Cormier is a painter, writes prose and poetry, and performs comedy. JC prefers different and original over pretty. She loves collecting stuff, but cleaning not so much. Janet also talks to strangers…a lot. Her column now appears weekly on Oddball Magazine.