If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you
hating
the people who are being oppressed,
and loving
the people who are doing the oppressing.
– Malcolm X
World always seemed
upside down.
Something
been bothering him
since the fifth grade.
The banker was a thief,
the minister was a liar,
the butcher didn’t like stray dogs.
Town cop was a crook
and his teacher was an idiot.
Coach couldn’t catch.
They knew best, they all told him.
They all knew best
what they told him.
This is how things are,
they told him.
It’s not us, it’s you,
they told him.
Seemed upside down.
He wasn’t stupid
and he saw what he saw.
Upside
down.