By Devon Webb
If voting changed anything they would abolish it
if this system was liberating we wouldn’t uphold it
democracy needs education
that’s why they control & withhold it
In this government
incompetence is weaponised
a country is not a business to leave in debt
people are no product & money is no profit
in politics if it isn’t spent
The people want change
but do not know how to change
one or the other
another white man called Christopher
who bought a house before they turned twenty-five
Meanwhile the media hold their tongues
in fists they name neutrality
what is the point of a voice if it stays silent
where are your values if you do not pick sides
Sometimes there is an easy answer
fuck genocide
fuck fascism
fuck war crimes
but the white man stays silent
on his high, high chair
eating mush from the hands of rich thieves
& thinking it a feast
propaganda is no sustenance
while the disenfranchised starve
your lies have no nutrition
only fill the void where your ignorance thrives
your guilt decays in the darkness
where your empathy went to die
it multiplies
it destroys you from inside
& sometimes I wonder if all the world is poison
sometimes hope feels like a fool’s game
but if I’m a fool to keep playing
I will break your rules till losing is off the board
If hope must be destructive I hope it destroys you
if revolution must be dangerous I hope we will be brave
if we must tear it all down to build something new
I hope we mourn with vision
If incompetence is your weapon
I hope you’re ready to lose.
About the Writer:
Devon Webb is a 25-year-old poet and writer based in Aotearoa New Zealand. She writes full-time, exploring themes of femininity, youth and vulnerability. She shares her poetry online, through live performance, and has been widely published both locally and internationally. She is the two-time Wellington Slam Poetry Champion and is currently working on the final edits of her debut novel, The Acid Mile. Her work can be found on Instagram, Twitter & TikTok at @devonwebbnz.