Blacklisted, a poem by Abhinav Aradhi

 

Blacklisted

Why do you insist upon

Living in a paradox,

Where no soul,

Can do right nor wrong?

 

A battle, not of violent nature,

But to be seen on the silver screen,

To slip by the censors,

And to avoid the straightlaced sentries.

 

Is it too much to ask?

For a representative?

Your house consists of one party.

Now that’s political.

 

If the boy talks too much,

He is deemed obnoxious.

If the boy simply exists,

He is deemed unnecessary.

 

If the girls remain chaste,

Death immediately overtakes her.

If the girls lock lips,

Suddenly, all is well. All is well.

 

How are you supposed to express an opinion,

About those you call your people,

When all the rest won’t cease their chatter?

When they think their word reigns supreme?

 

 

And how are you supposed to relish,

A minute little scene,

When it could have been so much more?

It’s time, friends, to stop accepting scraps.

 

It’s time, friends, to stop dealing with it.

It’s time, friends, to equip our megaphones.

It’s time, friends, to insist upon it.

It’s time, friends, to make realism never the goal.

 

They’ll resist,

With their statistics,

And their cries of blasphemy,

And their notions of what we want.

 

Don’t listen to their siren,

They do this every time.

And somehow,

Every time, it works.

 

It always works.

And we remain blacklisted.