Speechless
An annotated poem. Because sometimes you're at a complete loss for words to describe the f-ed up world we live in and poetry is supposed to help.
Speechless
an annotated poem by C.A. Matthews
Speechless.
I can’t explain the mixed emotions that I feel whenever I read the headlines on my social media feeds. Speechless, because what can I say or do to stop the killing, the bombing, the senseless hurting of others that the US government does and allows to be done to children, to paramedics, to doctors, to students and teachers, to journalists, to hard-working blue-collar individuals and farmers because they can and will personally profit from it?
Anger.
I feel this emotion the most because no matter how hard I—and others we like me—scream and fight back we cannot stop them. Anger, because we are but ants to be trodden upon in the billionaires’ quest for global dominance and Malthusian fantasies of replacing the 99% with AI and robots, things that can’t talk back about the injustice of their slavery and would nuke us in a heat beat if allowed to. Anger, because we will suffer and shoulder the blame for our country’s evil deeds while those who actively commit them will walk away scot-free.
Horror.
The sheer revulsion I feel at the sight of a 22 month-old baby’s cigarette burned legs, tortured by Israeli terrorists in order to force a false confession from his father. Horror, at how an Israeli academic can blithely say that murdering children in front of their parents is a good thing because obviously an advanced degree equates to possessing zero empathy for those you see as less than human. Horror that these psychopaths walk among us unhindered, promoted ever higher for their displays of cruel genius.
Shock.
How else do you explain why most of my fellow countrymen live in oblivious denial of the death and destruction their elected representatives easily fund? Shocking how these officials, without a blink, happily provide arms to commit genocide worldwide because what’s another dead Arab, African or Asian to them? Shock, a coping mechanism to deal with the day-to-day interactions I endure with mindless, soulless individuals who concentrate on celebrities’ love lives at the expense of keeping up with what’s actually happening around them, an odd reaction considering how their own government sees them no differently than others and is already betting on their early deaths through the denial of universal health care.
Impatience.
Why are we tolerating these violent and venal behaviors by those in power? Impatience colors my response to the fact of how millions are dying in Palestine, in Iran, in Lebanon, in Sudan all to satisfy the insane avarice of a very few, and yet the masses still do not rise up and shut this corrupt system down for the sake of all humanity. Impatience with those who easily fall for the duopoly’s tricks, thinking a parade with Trump-in-diapers balloons will somehow make a bit of difference to the victims of our country’s bloodshed either at home or abroad. Impatience at my own shortcomings and my lack of ability to inspire others to see the world clearly instead of through propaganda-tinted glasses.
Frustrated.
Did I not learn the law right or understand the Constitution as well as I should? I find myself frustrated over how no one in in authority follows the Bill of Rights or due process anymore, that the Gestapo has been reborn from the dark and demonic DHS. Frustrated over immigrants’ civil rights being forsaken for… what exactly? For capitalists to make greater profits from their private warehouse prisons crammed with thousands of innocents, including frustrated folk like me—provided we’re not murdered in cold blood on the streets for protesting these American brown-shirts’ abuses first.
Disgust.
I must endure these disgusting “Western values” that put the lives and pleasure of the Esptein class so far above others that is it any wonder these monsters use, abuse and rape children with impunity? My disgust bleeds as I witness our co-called “culture” praising and raising up sociopaths and narcissists, racists and fascists, Zionists and white supremacists who denigrate all who aren’t “pure enough”—forgetting that Turtle Island or Palestine was never their homeland in the first place and that nobody wants imperialist white colonizers to return from where their ancestors originally came from, either.
Surprise.
The apathy, the flag-waving, the faux-bible-thumping, the propaganda and hasbara—how does it all work together to wash away every ounce of innate intelligence in ordinary human beings? I’m surprised how many don’t care that our shared planet’s ecosystems are close to collapsing and how war after war only aggravates this situation. Surprised at how so many don’t realize that we all need clean air and water and healthy soil to grow food in if we wish to survive. Surprised some days that I even care to argue with these brain dead, walking corpses anymore.
Sadness.
It overwhelms me at night, in my dreams, and in every waking thought. So sad that this twisted semblance of humanity has come to this. So sad that Francesca Albanese is sanctioned for doing her job well as a UN Special Rapporteur. So sad that her latest report reveals how most people don’t care about the fate of Palestinian prisoners—many of them children—raped, tortured, and finally to be executed by IDF terrorists. So sad that these terrible things are done in the name of God—a deity whom they neither know nor worship if their words and actions are any indication.
There are days when these heavy emotions become a millstone about my neck, weighing me down in a pool of tears. There are days when the pain is so overwhelming that I want to go back to sleep and never wake up again. Most days, though, I rise, take in the latest obscenities of genocide, war, and domestic politics and do whatever I can to make sense of it all while planning my strategy to fight back. But, even on my best days, I often find myself—
Speechless.
“Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - Francis of Assisi
Another great poem from Sony Thăng x.com/nxt888/status/2037428938352541837
Americans love to say "not in my name." As if empire needs their permission. As if they have not been signing the contract with every election, every shrug, every "I am not political." The bombs are absolutely in their name. The sanctions are in their name. The starving children are in their name. If you live off the spoils of an empire and do nothing, you do not get to claim clean hands.
Speak Your Mind & Keep Informed
“In just 27 days of their illegal war, the US and Israel have demolished over 600 schools across Iran, martyring more than 1,000 students and teachers.” x.com/cynthianna3/status/2037531955600716034
“Bomb their children, not their infrastructure. Parents deserve to see their children die. It took us two years to do this in Gaza. We haven’t done it in Lebanon yet.” --Israeli academic Orit Perlov
‘Burning with cigarette butts’: 22-month-old Jawad’s mother recounts his torture by Israeli forces https://palestinewillbefree.substack.com/p/burning-with-cigarette-butts-22-month-old-jawads-mother-recounts-torture-by-israeli-forces
After 2.5 Years, Can We Handle The Truth About Oct 7th? https://realleecamp.substack.com/p/after-25-years-can-we-handle-the
Israel just publicly assassinated 2 of the most respected journalists in Lebanon. https://www.thenorthstar.com/p/israel-just-publicly-assassinated
The More Murderous Israel Gets, The More We Hear About “Antisemitism” https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-more-murderous-israel-gets-the
Who’s behind the mysterious ‘Iran-backed terror cell’ haunting Europe? https://thegrayzone.substack.com/p/whos-behind-the-mysterious-iran-backed
The $99,000 TEMU Missile That Just Made Every US Aircraft Carrier a Floating Coffin https://ifloz.substack.com/p/the-99000-temu-missile-that-just
Lawrence Wilkerson Warns Israel Faces Collapse as War With Iran Nears Nuclear Edge https://scheerpost.com/2026/03/29/lawrence-wilkerson-warns-israel-faces-collapse-as-war-with-iran-nears-nuclear-edge/
Pentagon Wants It to Be Illegal for Reporters to Ask “Unauthorized” Questions https://theintercept.com/2026/03/26/pentagon-reporters-first-amendment/
“Victory Chronicle” (Lego short animation from Iran) https://www.reddit.com/r/iran/comments/1s4p9rf/lego_animation_by_akhbar_enfejari_victory/
War on Iran is part of US plan to revive Western colonialism and exploit Global South https://scheerpost.com/2026/03/26/war-on-iran-is-part-of-us-plan-to-revive-western-colonialism-and-exploit-global-south/
West refuses to condemn slavery at UN https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/west-condemn-slavery-un-vote
Trump DHS Slammed After Data Reveals It Tried to Deport Nearly 300 Veterans https://truthout.org/articles/trump-dhs-slammed-after-data-reveals-it-tried-to-deport-nearly-300-veterans/
No Kings is AIPAC approved https://arunnews.substack.com/p/no-kings-is-aipac-approved
Trump Has No Soul https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/trump-has-no-soul
As Trump escalates war on Iran, a strike wave spreads across the United States https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/03/26/qnfk-m26.html
Our Town Hall (organize to win your local election) https://ourtownhall.org/
The End of the Post-Socialist Condition? https://sopio.substack.com/p/death-of-the-patriarch
Speechless that we are still having to protest the same shit and that we haven't overthrown our oppressors yet. Maybe this is our year? Hope so!
Capitalism rewards the psychopathic
We need to end capitalism