Fascist State

FASCIST STATE 

They did not come upon us like blitzkrieg in the night 
or goose step into town like a plague of parasites. 
They crept on us like shadows in increments so small
they did not seem, at first, to be that menacing at all.   
But an eerie posture lurking in those twisted silhouettes 
triggered in my senses the twinges of a threat.    
So when I turned to look at it what loomed before my eyes   
was a figure black in battle dress, fully weaponized. 

The more I studied it the more my inclinations ran
to perceive it as an insect rather than a man.       
It was clad in armor that formed a battle skin
like some science fiction creature’s exoskeleton.
Peering like a mantis, devoid of all remorse, 
it assumed the posture of a ruthless brutal force.  
Unmoving, it awaited some unsuspecting prey
to trigger programmed instincts into deadly play. 

It was not a thinking thing but a proxy sent 
to execute agendas of torture and torment.
It was posted as a sentry by a calculating hand   
to reinforce the stranglehold of evil in command.  
Secure in it’s status as an instrument of pain 
it stood rigid in a posture of arrogant disdain.  
it’s value was its ignorance, it did not comprehend
that it would be destroyed when its purpose came to end.

It emanated coldness so inhuman that it seemed 
to have stepped from a nightmare to stomp upon a dream. 
The whole landscape of existence changed dramatically
beneath the hostile presence of such raw authority.
Where once the streetlights offered sanctuary in their rays
they now morphed into searchlights hunting down a prey.
Sirens screamed atrocities that took the aspect of
a jackboot psychopath with a fist inside a glove.

Beneath the cyborg menace was evil more discrete 
skulking in the think tanks, and the bunkers of deceit.
A covert insurgency of social engineers     
bent on the subjugation of the hemispheres.
Through orchestrated episodes of endless global war
they reveled in their orgies of sabotage and gore. 
The sentry was the whipping tip of the chain of command
lashed across the back of every dominated land.     

What darkness of impressions an image can command     
when the shadow of a fascist state falls across a land.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2016

Poem

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Mcguire-Sheffler Avatar
February 25, 2016 at 10:44 PM
Hey John--didn't know you were a poet! Beautifully done!--Nancy
Wilowski Avatar
October 24, 2016 at 12:41 PM
Nancy, sorry I didn't reply earlier but thank you.
Buhain-Baello Avatar
February 22, 2016 at 7:25 PM
Brilliant and profound writing, such magnitude of imagery! Excellent topic, relevant and timel.
Wilowski Avatar
October 24, 2016 at 12:42 PM
Cynthia, belated thanks.
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