Do What You’re Told
(unless you choose to use your brain instead!)
I thought Barbarians were extinct
I thought the Vikings and the Goths died out
after the first plague
and the world advanced in many ways
after the Inquisition
but for the Conquest
we might have had the best to show
thanks to the Renaissance
due to literary and artistic feats
cross-cultural connections, trade,
and the quest of Reason.
There must have been a time when
words as spoken
carried weight,
and not just power
Yet not too long ago
it became necessary, even normalized
that writing only carried truth/s
paired with one’s signature.
And since that recent time, most of us realize
in all cases, you should expect to be deceived
unless you see collateral.
I mean, today’s world holds no higher law
than business model
which is predation to the extent one
can get away with it
and everyone 5 years and older learns
that everything costs money
and all else gets in the way.
Only a fool intact stays simple
drinks water from a spring
speaks to the animals
and finds shelter in the trees
however
the
earth
still wears a crown and she sees
no civilization as lasting
no technology as valid
no matter how much you still believe in
“purchased goods”
“private lands”
“stocks and bonds”
“four walls” and
“reservoirs”
You may review economic curves and data trends
cycles of wealth and/or demise
the corporate calendar
and never even notice
changes in your cell structure
pollution’s poisoning
mutations in your double helix
until
by the time you do
unfair exchange and damage to your health
is re-named
“coincidence,” or “inconclusive”
to protect a patent
the corporate body more holy than your own
and there is no justice
and no monetary compensation
great enough
to give back
your chance at life,
your dreams,
with family,
in joy.
There was a time when words meant something
before they were crafted into language
in fact, they held meaning
exact in definition
each unto themselves
and in that legacy I stand.
What would it be to read, or to try to learn new concepts
while challenged by a changing message?
What if every time you looked the same words meant something different,
strange, or incomplete?
What if laws were relevant one day and not the next?
Or letters scrambled, re-arranged into something else?
Would it seem like news today?
My father liked humiliation.
he told me
once upon a time
there was a psychology experiment
where baby children were intentionally taught that
“up’ meant “down”
“left” meant “right”
and
“hot” meant “cold”
and these small ones were then released
into mixed groups of peers their age
and broken from the inside out
fraught, confused, dismayed, panicked,
and finally,
systematically re-trained,
but never to be “whole” again
and never “happy”
I changed my name
I wanted nothing of it
I wanted to embody my potential
before mind-games, cruelty,
corruption
heartless soulless patriarchy
consumed by callousness, derision of the life force
stuck in endless “studies” of psychology, of human nature,
of sex and gender, race, and class
hierarchy and control
all of which restate the same premise
of dissect and dominate
disrespect and destroy
oppress, torture, and exploit
the innocent, and the pure;
all of which learn nothing
And I have made my home
apart from this
my fortress and my castle
my vault and my safety
I have chosen and I continue to choose wisely
what shall support and nourish and protect me.
What does not stays outside my locked gate.
What better word is “NO,”
the same in many languages.
It is my choice and is the choice that means
I have a right to my opinion,
to guard my sanity and my health.
I own my body and my mind
alongside and notwithstanding alt-society,
gutted out and glorified by
fake compassion and false facts.
No means No.
Such a simple direct word can build a life of satisfaction.
Anchor a firmament of dignity on principle.
Reap and sustain a harvest of prosperity.
It may surprise those of you
who go along with everything
still feeling empty, agitated;
or those of you who
do not stop to question
what is said
© Tory Quintero August 24, 2021
