The List! Poem by Eric Cockrell

i came to age
in the land of Nixon,
and J Edgar Hoover....

when if you even breathed
the truth you made the lists,
the lists that no one saw!

from the America of LBJ,
the slaughter of the Kennedys',
and Martin Luther King....

and open war on the students
at Kent State who dared to stand....
against an unholy war....

civil rights, flag burnings,
draft card burnings....
women's rights, and change....

that we didnt finish....
now our own children stand
up in protest against a way

of life that isnt living....
and again the police
and the riot squads....

will there be lists this time?

unholy.....unholy........unholy
wars.......lifestyles.....'justice'!

put me on the list!