Summary
This piece largely sustained my participation in this event, as it was actually written in three or four chunks as my poem for three or four different days, and I later pieced it together in its current form. There is a paradoxical force in writing like this from which learning is bound to arise: it is somehow simultaneously easiest and most difficult to write on this type of subject. These things are constantly in the backs of our minds in a post-scandalous, unprecedentedly stimulating age such as this, which makes them easy to summon as content, but the reason they stick with us to this extent is the constant stress they lodge in our chests. In this way, these specific days presented a challenge of balancing the two aspects of this reality in addition to the prolificacy-building exercise already presented by the 20 Poems in 20 Days challenge.millenials are coverin’ up their slytherin tattoos and watching ai fetish porn from hud tvs on the news
we’re selling spleens for breakfast eggs buying weed with apple pay splurging on our rent and bills and raiding epstein’s grave
“palworld dating simulator,” “mr. beast squid games,” the murderous, police state just as jefferson proclaimed,
the slow and tortured death of art, the rise of the machines, jojo siwa’s litterbox, and hunger games x shein.
as tensions rise, attentions fall; you only have Two Eyes; no mortal mind can hold it all, yet futilely we try.
when we burn up all the green on earth, they’ll sell us dye and “de-extincted” mammoth rats, and continents on fire.
poisoning the water system for tesla batteries while ai server centers spread like thirsty thirsty weeds.
there’s flowers in antartica while florida drowns in snow and billion-dollar carbon credits for nepo ceos.
the world inside, the world out there– you only have Two Eyes; no mortal mind can hold it all, yet futilely we try.
it’s the district of america, the throne of elon musk! buy a tesla from the whitehouse lawn, just a hundred thousand bucks!
inaugurating donald trump in the name of mlk– the glorious leader’s birthday and military parade.
hitler, mussolini, donald tragedy then farce– tariffs on the traitor nations, watching as we starve.
for all the lies, and all the truth, you only have Two Eyes; no mortal mind can hold it all, yet futilely we try.
when self defense means bombing churches, hospitals and schools, at least i still can count on you to remind me of the rules. not allowed to speak aloud from blood cobalt iphones. im too rich for empathy, and too queer to have a soul. bow down to irl maleficent, reprised by gal gadot.
worshippers of jesus christ are sieging bethlehem, but people think i give two shits about the return of eminem??
one more demise, or four or ten– you only have Two Eyes; no mortal mind can hold it all, yet futilely we try.
mothers bleed to death in dumpsters, while doctors rot in jail, with fraudsters, insurrections, and rapists out on bail.
“foid,” “cum dumpster,” “birth machine” after all, “boys will be boys!” “great replacement,” “falling birth rates,” so “your body my choice.”
fifty dollar birth control pills, “no mercy,” “woman’s job.” does he even want a partner– or just to fuck his mom?
the changing times, the tides of men– you only have Two Eyes; no mortal mind can hold it all, yet futilely we try.
buying votes means water bottles not million dollar checks; “cost of living,” “battleground state,” “illegal protest,” a ceo assassin cult, with no class consciousness, “dei,” “minimum wage,” and “human resources.”
no joe, no roe, no fowl, no harm, “no politics in art;” no time to run, no nowhere to go, and no money to depart.
remembering what it’s like to feel, to live, to love, to dream– with just Two Ears, how could we hear each and every scream?
-# by Jester Lumos; performed at ASU (2025, 20 poems in 20 days)