I've Been Thinking About Power
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
About who has it
Who doesn’t
And why
I’ve been thinking about the ways
That collective cultural and generational trauma
Has shaped everything
And it all comes back to power
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
And how so many of those who have it
Only fear losing it
And how some of those who don’t have it
Don’t want it
I’ve been thinking about how oftentimes
The best people to have power
Are those who do not want it
That it is most responsibly wielded
By those it is foisted upon
I’ve been thinking about the sources of power
About money
And influence
And how all of that affects the systems we find ourselves in
How it poisons our air and our water
How it leads us to differentiate each other
How it leads us to fear each other
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
My own
And how I’ve pushed it down for years
I’ve been thinking about how
That self-same generational trauma lies
Within my bones
And saps my power
I’ve been thinking about how power interacts with strength
And I’ve been thinking a lot
About the phrase
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
Because there are those of us
Who didn’t want to be stronger
Not like this
There are those of us who have an innate power
That could have been unleashed much easier
If we had not been made stronger
In this way
I’ve been thinking about power and strength
And how really
Oftentimes
They are simply weakness in disguise
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
I’ve been thinking about the ways
That those who have it
Are able to trick so many of those who don’t
Into acting against their own interests
I’ve been thinking about how
And when exactly a few
Forced down so many
How so many manys throughout history
Have been able to be kept down
I’ve been thinking about power
And how so many people
Millions of people in this country
Say that their voice does not matter
I’ve been thinking about how those millions of people
Millions of people
Could so easily change who holds the power
If they were not tricked
Into giving up their own
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
About all the ways it corrupts
About how some of those few above the many
Say they want to help
But they either can’t
Because those fews that came before
Their forebears in power
Developed a system such
That it is difficult for them to actually
Genuinely
Help people
Or they won’t
Because those promises were empty
Made merely as stepping stones
To get to power
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
And how I wish
That so many people could recognize
The power within their own bones
Within their own soul
Within their own mind
Within themselves
I’ve been thinking about power a lot lately
And how different the world could be
I’ve been thinking about power
A lot lately