Xiàjiàng
(Decline; Descend)

03/27/23

Of course we are
	Declining, descending, xiajiang, mired as we are,
Caught up in our squabbles, the ongoing battles
	‘tween Left and Right, abandoning
Rights and freedoms, electing jumped-up 
	Fascists as leaders, book-banning, burning,
Independence truncated by religious zealots 
	Dictating morality according to all the old
Superstitions, the omnipresence of guns guns guns,
	And the requisite paranoia driving that need,
And police at war with civilians,
	The hopelessness of homelessness, 
Richest country in the world leaves its citizens
	Without shelter, urban camping, children
Sleeping in cars, desperately poor,

11/27/24

Twenty months later the election is done,
	Xiàjiàng, we are descending faster now,
Plummeting, spiraling down, our pilot
	A knuckle-dragging liar, and all the rest,
A government at war with its people,
	A government at war with reality,
A government at war
		With the truth.
Welcome to
	The New America. 
		Generations
	Of our forebears
Weep.