Artwork © S.A. Griffin

 

Conspiracy Pandemic

First there was JFK, the lone gunman,
the grassy knoll, and Jack Ruby
and I’m not saying they’re wrong.

Then people claimed the
Apollo moon landing was staged
in the southwestern desert.

Much later good friends
became convinced
the government staged 9/11—
yeah I can see why.

Then when the government lied
and the newspapers complied
with the rush to war in Iran.

The joke was on us when we-the-people
become conditioned to believe anything
not published in the New York Times—

and to believe anything from InfoWars,
Fox and Brietbart and even Q.

When even fact checkers are suspect—
lies became truth.

So by 2012 people claimed
that Sandy Hook was staged
by Obama to take away our guns.

In March of 2016 a man opened fire
in D.C.’s Comet Ping pizzeria
because of a conspiracy theory
about a Clinton child sex ring.

By 2017 people were saying
that method actors staged
the Las Vegas hotel shooting.

In 2018, they claimed that
the Marjory Stoneman Douglas
school shooting employed
the same actors to pose
as the student activists.

In 2019 a man reported to have believed
anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
shot eleven people at
the Tree of Life Synagogue.
That same year vaccination fears created
a worldwide measles outbreak

Soon after the pandemic began
my housemate told me
of another conspiracy theory
that said that hospital ships
harvested humans for their organs.

The following Tuesday an engineer ran a train
off the tracks near the Port of Los Angeles
in an attempt to ram the U.S.N.S. Mercy.

Authorities reported that Eduardo
Marco, age 44, thought the hospital
ship was suspicious—he landed
the train 250 yards from the ship.

And today I heard that those
seemingly mild-mannered,
well-meaning but wealthy do-gooders
and bleeding-heart liberals
are actually lizard people who torture
children and suck their blood.

 

Denise Weaver Ross explores her understanding of the world through art and poetry while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico since 1996. Poetry Playhouse Publications recently published her first book of poetry alone-Letters to the Deceased and Other Missives—as well as her sixth book of art and poetry entitled House of Cards: The Whole Deck. She has been writing poetry ever since she could write and has been included in countless anthologies.

S.A. Griffin lives, loves and works in Los Angeles.