For the one-year anniversary of the Insurrection, I just recorded the spoken word piece I wrote last year in the aftermath. Ignore the dark circles around my eyes–I’ve been dealing with some stressfully stressful stress this week. (Text below)
CAPITOL OFFENSE
Kari A. Martindale
From ALLCAPS on Parler to the Capitol parlor,
groups carpool to show where their loyalties lie.
No defensive line meets them—No barriers awaiting the President’s baited crusaders—
A welcome mat greets them.
Because America knows whose protest is allowed on the Capitol steps
and whose Skintone Test warrants immediate arrest.
They cross the Mall,
climb the wall,
“Come on in!”
reach the hall.
With ease, they breach doors; officials cower on floors,
hands proverbially tied ‘cause they verbally lied,
tweeting tweets from their seats, crying “Fraud!”
Such deceit to appease the President’s conceit.
Officials fear for their lives, their children’s, their wives’ –
fear the backlash from those who smash through the glass,
coming for Pence, fearing no consequence
as they give their brothers-in-arms high-fives.
Steadfast in intent, they were sent to dissent,
hell-bent on “Stopping the Steal!”
But those votes were real.
Loyalists buy in as Trump asks for protection–
“Overturn the election!” he incites out of spite,
tweeting day, tweeting night ‘til his insurrectionists flood in to fight his fight.
These “very special people”—with all their might,
they stampede to impede vote certification,
making sedition the tradition
when there’s the threat
of a peaceful transition.
Uncuffed, they Proudly shuffled out of their…“kerfuffle”.
There was no shame. They weren’t hiding their names.
There were no suffocating masks to disguise them, no family white hoods to hide them
as they waved the confederate rag in the selfies they tagged while they bragged.
And then Authorities came.
Now the Boys look to Trump–
They threw his tantrum for him and now they implore him,
“Pardon us!”
for the lack of decorum.
Accusations persist and Trump’s defenders insist,
His words were mischaracterized!
(A word liars use for lies.)
“Incitement of insurrection” is the legacy he leaves:
his rallies, his speeches–his two impeachments.
And that’s what they’ll teach:
“Who was the only President to be twice-impeached?”
And children will ask: “Did you support the Insurrection?”
And a loyalist’s recollection
will be that they simply accepted the President’s invitation to save the nation
from a democratic election.
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