My truth
During my campaign, I would often get questions about why I invested so much time and effort into poetry rather than campaigning. This happened a lot and I have struggled to give an answer at times. I want to try and explain my reasoning today. When I decided to run for office, I made two promises to myself and the people I intend on representing. 1. Tell the truth. 2. Have a solid foundation of policy and understanding of government. I spent the last year studying our history and government and when I felt I had built a strong foundation, I realized I needed to learn how to communicate it to others. Not just to people like me, but I wanted to be able to communicate it to the various factions in our society. I decided poetry would be a good tool to do so.
While campaigning, I would sometimes perform my poetry and people would tell me “I don’t understand the poetry”. If you are someone who was confused by my poetry then it probably wasn’t for you, it was meant for a different faction. And it was for me. Poetry helped me learn to organize my thoughts and ideas, it helped me learn to communicate complex issues about government down into bite-size pieces everyday Americans could understand. And getting up on stage and performing week after week helped me get over my anxiety about public speaking. It helped me find my voice.
I choose to do this through poetry because it was an area of comfort for me, as I’ve written poetry since I was a child. And I saw an opportunity to reach out to a younger, more diverse crowd. When I am elected to office, I plan to represent all of the people in my district, not just those of my party affiliation. And I plan to use every tool at my disposal to do so.
I’ve always loved poetry because it can be anything. It can have a rigged structure or be completely free. I am a man who respects rules and order but also the freedom to be myself, poetry was meant for people like me. Another reason I love poetry is that I believe poetry represents truth and I value truth above all. Truth is reality.
When a poet bares their soul on paper, they are reflecting, they are trying to see something from a different point of view, and they are sharing their truth, their reality. It’s not easy to do, people judge, people react and overreact, but poets continue because they understand how important truth is. Poetry is short and to the point, it doesn’t allow space for lies to live. And should a poet think they are cleverer than the reader and choose to disobey the rule of truth in their poetry, then an educated reader will discover the falsities leaving the writer more exposed than if they just had told the truth in the first place.
Over the past month, I’ve been inspired by one of the greatest poets of our generation, Kendrick Lamar. At the beginning of his new album, there is a woman who says, “tell them your (truth)”.
Below is my latest poem. Below is my truth. I hope you enjoy it.
My Truth
My truth is I’m angry.
And I’m sad.
The hardest part of fatherhood is knowing what our kids need to do and not telling them. They need to figure it out on their own because it’s what they want. It is their will. But as a parent, we can see things so much more clearly than they do. Because we’ve watched them. We’ve watched the tape if you will. We’ve studied them. When they were infants, we knew their sleep and poop schedules. When they were toddlers, we knew their next step and stopped them from walking off the edge of the stairs. And by the time they become teenagers, we can see their mistakes before they happen. We remember moments of their lives that they don’t. And they have memories of us that we don’t. If they would just listen to us and talk to us, everything would be ok, but they don’t. Because it’s their will. So, we try to guide them, help them where we can, and make them happy. We have to fight against a society that doesn’t value family or faith. It’s sex, violence, corruption, and just a lack of decorum from our leaders. A society that wants us to work 12 hours a day at a job that doesn’t value us, so we can afford the next big consumer product, then society wants us to place our children in front of a screen so we can do the same. It’s lonely out in their real world. What ever happened to phone calls? What ever happened to people just dropping by? Everything is planned nothing is random. And our kids are suffering. Instead of being in front of a screen, what they need is love. And love is hard when we work our butt off to keep the lights on, the pantry full, and the streaming services paid just so our kids don’t feel left out of that society. The one that doesn’t value us. The hardworking parent who just wants time with their kids. Society would rather tell us what to do rather than listen to us. Society would rather yell and scream at each other rather than giving each other a hand.
Why am I so angry though? Because I know what my kids need, and I know what my society needs but I can’t seem to get through to either of them. My kids will figure it out, I have faith in them. But I am worried about my society? No one is guiding it. Morality, knowledge, hard work is no match for those who can entertain. I’ve studied our society; I watch it grow just like I’ve watched my kids grow. Every major event that happened in our history has a story of how it affected something else. The Revolution led to the constitution. The constitution led to the parties. It’s all very natural. People group for survival, and when a group grows too large it creates factions and those factions fight for power. Children’s behavior is a direct reflection of their parents’ behavior because they are part of us, we raised them. And society’s behavior is a direct reflection of government behavior because the government raised us. They write the rules of how we coexist. And for too long our government has been a bunch of people fighting for their own personal interests, with few people thinking of the future. And now we have people trying to govern us who don’t understand our past. And all those problems have piled up, the debt, the environment, education, the economy. It’s not the Democrats’ fault, it’s not the Republicans’ fault. It’s generations of bad government. And our society is suffering.
If we would just listen and talk to each other, everything would be ok, but we don’t…. Because it is our will.
I love you society. I believe we can be better. Because I believe our will is free.