Westley Penland

One vote, Two votes
Red Votes, Blue Votes.

You say what we decide
Shouldn’t be a reason to divide
But it’s a little hard not to divide
When you’re already chastised.
When you’re already cast aside
When you’re already marginalized
Can’t vote across an aisle
Can’t write in the margins
Like my whole life is just a side note
A freakish side show
To be forgotten
Because God forbid
You colored outside your lines
But I’m supposed to be fine
You want to go back to another time
When love was something the bible defined
When Birth mortality rates were sky high
When minorities were kept in binds
When a man was the only one doing a daily grind.
What exactly do you want to go back to?
And you can sit there and say it isn’t me, it’s them
You can abide by lies
Give your ballot an alibi
But in the end, I am them
In the end you cast your love
And your love for me is not worth loving me
Every tally for hate is another reminder
Of how much I am hated by the United States of you.
And you say it isn’t personal
But I take it personally
Because you don’t have a good reason
Somehow it’s all turned into a competition
My gold prize is being treated as human
Yours is making sure someone is less than.
You say you worried that my life would be harder
But the only reason it is, is because it’s used as political barter
Don’t want me to drown but put my head under water
Mark me a black sheep, then lead me out to slaughter.
I can’t trust someone who’s leader threatens
My life on day one.
I can’t trust someone whose vote is a noose around my throat
But we shouldn’t allow it to divide us
You say Make America Great Again
But you really mean
Give America Hate again
Let America Rape again
Help America Slave again
Putting minorities in their place again
Until you’re at peace in your own white skin.
And you pledge allegiance to a flag
Stand tall with your hand on your heart
But I’m afraid you dropped the ball
Because you mumbled that part
About “Liberty and Justice for all”
You’d rather build a wall
Give excuses for cat calls
See students gunned down in halls
See Trans kids never kick balls
Amp up Hurricane destruction in fall
Than support freedom for all.
I’m not a thing to be voted from existence
Not a policy or law could stop my resistance
But you dance with my rights with such insistence
I don’t like fucking cancer
But voting away Chemo is not the answer.
And maybe that’s the truth
Dividing from you is my truce
So I don’t look too hard for proof
Of hoping you loved me
Before you tightened that noose
And you have the right to choose
Consequences will shake loose
And your love will be deduced
You never could protect me from abuse
So what’s the use?
You say it isn’t personal
But I take it personally.

Published previously (2024) “Confirmation of Life”