Country on the Precipice of Castration
A Poem by John Ganshaw
Strength through the sum of all its parts:
compassion, love, happiness, togetherness,
understanding, caring, and peace are some
qualities that give us the virility to achieve all
we can. An achievement that can only come through
standing and working together. The power of one
should never be able to cut and burn the fabric that
makes a society powerful. For almost two hundred and
fifty years, we have fought for the rights of
self-determination for Democracy. Today, we have
approached a judgment day for the future. Do we
succumb to the thought of blaming others or chastise
those who have different views?
What has changed? Why has the self become more important
than the group? To live in fear of the powerful, the narcissistic,
the lies, and the hate. Tears flow for the land I love, for what
my country has become. To see the divisiveness of families and friends
is a belief that it could never happen here. A false prophet
is worshiped and followed. Let’s move forward, look back,
and live in a better time when neighbors were neighbors, not
enemies from within. We can’t succumb and live under a fascist
man’s law. Raising your voice is better than remaining silent
and living in a fearful, hateful, and castrated land.
John graduated with a BA in Leadership Development from NYU. John retired early to live his dream of owning a hotel in Cambodia, leading to fulfilling his dream of being an author/poet. Seeing and living in this world's darkness provided the opportunity to see that the light of hope can exist and will fight back. John’s work has most recently appeared in Wells Street Journal, Story Sanctum, Post Roe Alternatives, IAMB literary, Ambidextrous Bloodhound, Free the Verse, eMerge, Unapologetic, and Sucarnochee Review, and several others. Nothing is as it seems; experiences are meant to shape us, not define us. Life has hope, truth, and adventure, leading to stories that must be written and told.
