“We the People”

By: Phoebe Gittelson ’21 | Date: August 27, 2019

“We the people”
fathers claimed
as they settled with lies,
drawing lines between mountains and rivers and lives,
that Justice,
wedged between words,
would prevail over the protection of property and corporations
to acknowledge us,
those not in the room
in 1789
when the supreme law
of the United States of America
was birthed.

The law of the land — poetry that rules.
Interpreted by those privileged enough
to spend years understanding the weight of these words
so heavy
so powerful
that their misinterpretation,
this faulty lens,
this law,
has led us here
to the brink of extinction.

Fear to amend something
built on exclusion
and defense
“Your Honor, please”
defend our planet,
not this system
we suffer within.

Disrupt this dissent
by abolishing
your father’s fear to acknowledge
me, her, they, them…
WE THE PEOPLE
that exist outside your definition
of Freedom.

“Seek wisdom, not knowledge.
Knowledge is of the past,
wisdom is of the future.”
Bound by words
are we truly free?