NEPHART.COM

How have your political views changed over time?

I believed.

They said.

I thought it was a blueprint.

Turns out

it was a script.

They used mics and media

to turn lies into truth

and truth into something flexible,

foldable,

sellable.

They fulfilled their vested interests,

manufactured faith,

made the sightless follow,

marched them to the cliff.

Nobody pushed.

That’s the part that hurts.

They jumped.

Mid-air,

they realised

we were never citizens,

just numbers

lined up inside voting polls.

We thought they were good.

Sold our souls for sweet food,

temporary taste,

long-term damage.

Insipid truth

served with big words.

Modality.

Technicality.

Economic boom.

Share market groom.

Noise dressed as progress.

When I grew up,

I was the only one

left in the room.

Everyone else carried flags.

My friends said,

“Don’t worry,

we’ve got your back.”

But backs turn quietly.

Syndicates.

Manipulations.

No, I am not carrying their bags.

I already carry enough baggage

just surviving.

They shouted:

Eradicate poverty.

Employment opportunity.

GDP growth.

Smiling faces.

Then recruited people

who didn’t even know

how to tie their laces,

appointed their dogs,

trained them to bark

straight into our faces.

Tycoons joined in,

made the party look grand.

From a distance,

it looked like vision.

Up close,

intentions were bland.

And a few good lads

the honest ones

dissolved somewhere

between compromise

and silence.

My political views over time

couldn’t even resolve

my own confusion.

So they said,

“Let the country suffer.

We’ll call it a buffer zone.”

Life got tougher.

Good people became Lucifer.

And Lucifer smiled and said,

“This is heaven.

This is your world.

Live or die.

Laugh or cry.

Your views don’t matter.

Every day

we will plant a lie,

neatly pressed,

wearing a tie.

Lean towards us,

we’ll make you high.

Refuse,

don’t question our actions.

Our job

is to divide,

to fracture,

to make fractions.

So go away

if politics is not your attraction.

And that’s how my views changed.

Not because I stopped caring,

but because I learned

who was never listening.