Benjamin Waldrum

They’ll come for you next, you can count on that fact;
They’ll keep coming so long as there’s more to subtract.
They’ll trumpet their values — no faults, only gloss;
They’ll arrive wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

They’ll reduce human rights with the stroke of a pen;
They’ll betray their own people, then betray them again.
They’ll brag the economy (read: profits) is at record highs;
They’ll not care there are few to whom that applies.

They’ll add more undesirables to their growing list;
They’ll enforce your birth gender and decide who you’ll kiss.
They’ll white out their own failures and replace them with wins;
They’ll misinform and control, making resistance appear thin.

They’ll restrict options to choose, but that’s only begun;
They’ll want to lower your free choice to just one.
They’ll declare that your principles and beliefs are untrue;
They’ll lament that you don’t understand like they do.

They’ll tell you this is all for the good of the cause;
They’ll ignore or remove any troublesome laws.
They’ll chip away at the wonderful things you hold dear;
They’ll point out that you voted — was this result not unclear?

They’ll make truths from their lies and clothe it in hate; and
They’ll say all of these things make America great.

Benjamin Waldrum lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he writes for the health care sector. A former journalist and technical writer, he believes strongly in the malleability of language and the power of storytelling to inspire and effect change. His poetry has been published in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Medicine & Meaning literary journal.

This poem appeared in Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project. We’ll be featuring each poem from the collection individually in the weeks ahead. You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.