Savage

Savage was what they called their prisoners that they so heartlessly bound

savage was the name they said onto the brown and red people who lived off the earth

they had no sense of civility, they thought

such primitivity

with their spears, bows and arrows

yet what loving creatures

humbled to invite strange guests in their homes, on their land

they took advantage of their love

they took advantage of their awakened hearts

so they massacred, raped and pillaged

they were not satisfied until the villages of old were replaced with rivers of blood

and so they killed

and so they stole

and so they made a profit

all the while remaining blind to who the savage was

for it wasn't any primitive nature

that made one a savage

It was not living in a hut with a loin cloth

that made one a savage

No

Perhaps the savage is the nationalist; the ethnocentrist

or the man who wears a well pressed suit and tie

he who owns corporations

he who lives in mansions nearly the size of towns

he who owns all of these things, resources, luxuries

yet is animate in basking it in all

for himself of course

to quench his perverse sense of self

all the while is content

content of his savagery

of his unchecked barbaric nature

blissfully unaware that he thrives off of stolen land

pillaged land

damaged land

screeches from the ancestors explode from below the earth

yearning

begging

pleading

to be heard

but who listens to a savage?

Meanwhile the radio says that savage is dope

savage is hip

savage is trending

kill or be killed

take yours by any means

but what is yours?

what is truly anyones?

but what does that matter

just as long as your pockets are fat

you can survive in this world of beasts

dormant to their humanity

it was as if humanity gracefully set aside

and rested, unaware of her deep lethal wounds

the savage filled the void

but what is there really to fill

when emptiness is what defines you?

they can rap about it

they can sing about it

put it in every vine and snap chat

but speak for yourself

I am not a savage

I refuse to blindly be the recipient of a blind cultural projection

savage is what they so desperately want

savage is what they went out of their way to call a person like me

savage is who they always will see me as

yet a savage has no sense of self

it is the pain that clouds the bliss

it is the ignorance of our true worth

it is denial

it is anti-human

savage are the blazers and loafers of Wall Street

savage are the swaths of yuppies that flood capital hill

savage are the laws, rules and regulations that dictate what was never meant to be dictated.

savage is the backbone of our reality

yet they are fine with this

for a savage sees blood as a mere appetizer to the full course of their profit.