All those people enjoying a January day... all over the world
My sister, an active feminist, and I were messaging back and forth about the women's marches all over the world. There even was a march in Antarctica - imagine that. One thing stood out for both of us - how cheerful the marchers looked in the pics. Every photo showed smiling faces, it seemed. A dramatic contrast against the sullen, angry looks and aggressive behavior of Trumputin's faithful.
Yet Trump is still in the catbird's (or cuckoo's) seat after another intentionally distorted, essentially stolen election. “We lost,” I wrote.
My sister replied, “As I see it, every time this kind of energy emerges, something comes out of it eventually, though the pundits would have us believe otherwise. It's not tit for tat or black and white, but with that much energy being expressed, things will happen, whether it 's a Nazi rally or a surprisingly huge Gay Rights march in the 80s - or what we just saw. We just don't know what.”
Calling that “the secret of why people come out for mass demonstrations,” she continued: "People who weren't there always say the next day, 'you didn't get what you wanted' or (as with Occupy) ‘you had no agenda so you failed’ but the real test is long-term and harder to pin down. Social movements are more like climate; political movements, more like weather."
She's right, of course, the size of the parades all over the world and the cheerful faces in those pics represent something much bigger than a Trump-sized spate of nasty weather. That's a bracing thought. So in honor of the people-powered climate shift we all saw at those parades, I thought I'd share some doggerel we came up with based on a placard held by a man photographed at one of those parades, somewhere.
“Super callous fascist racist extra braggadocious,” his hand-lettered placard declared. A smile-inducer. So we came up with a filk. I blame the placard.
THOUGHTS ON A PLACARD
Super callous fascist racist extra braggadocious
Even just to watch him preen can make you feel atrocious
He snarls and leers and smirks and smears all silly and ferocious
When he moves his lips you know it's gonna be mendocious
Were you feeling fine today and thinking that we've made it
All the world is on our side and nobody would trade it
Who would turn it upside down? The thought's preposteroscious
Oops! I'ts Super Fascist Racist Callous Braggadocious
When everyone was having fun discov'ring our diverseness
With gay weddings, friending Muslims, all without averseness
All our eyes were fixed above on wonders of Cassini
BOO! comes Mr. Super Callous Fascist New Orange Meanie
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Yeah, it needs work. Like I said, I blame the placard.
