state of us

by Andrew Kou
Art by Allison Huang
Issue: Kalopsia (Spring 2017)

Sometimes I think about us
What we are, what we’re not
Our passion and our lust
All the things that we’ve got
And things we don’t

So happy and free
Respecting our liberties
We’d switch on the TV
Thought we’d accept new beliefs
But we don’t

“You don’t belong here” we’ll both say
“What happened to the promises we made?”
“How could you’ve been so wrong?”
“How long do we fight ‘till one’s gone?”
How could we’ve been so wrong

Our life, our liberty
Our happiness, security
When did we trade them
for bigotry?