I'm Angry

By Peter Harris

Tell you what,

I'm feeling bloody angry.

So guess what, motherfucker!

You're gonna listen to me,

while I rant and swear and growl through my teeth.

Because when I look out at the world

and I hear the hate that we hurl

at anyone on the other side of a fence,

or any person who has a different stance...

Man, it makes me sick.

It's like everyone just rises to the hate.

No one stops themselves before it's too late.

They just jump straight

to making fun of what's on someone's plate,

or the way they were raised,

the pigment in their skin,

or what they identify with deep within.

What they have in between their legs,

and the sort of people they let into their beds,

and whether they like one or two, or maybe a few,

or maybe none at all.

I couldn't give a flying fuck what country you were born in,

or what you look like, or how you dress.

And that seems simple to me,

but the world's in a bloody mess,

and people just don't seem to see

that we don't need to all agree.

We just need to be kind,

and not get ourselves twisted and twined,

tied all up in knots inside

by fear.

Or pride.

We just need to remember we're all human,

and that comes with individuality.

And we need to remember that we are lucky for that!

What a boring place it would be

if I looked like you, and you acted like me.

But some things are just overdue for a fix.

And I'm sorry, but some of you just won't like it.

And I don't really care.

When the lesson you teach your kids sets them back

to a time where they don't want you on the bus 'cause you're Black...

Man, fuck that!

All this hating on immigrants and turning away asylum seekers...

Fucking hell, man, they just want their kids to have a better life.

And if you think a family wearing burkas on your street isn't worthy of safety,

then get the fuck out of my sight.

And I'm sick of this gender inequality!

We all know if men got periods, tampons would be free.

If you wave a sign and spit on the pavement outside abortion clinics, you're a cunt.

Pro-choice means she gets to decide what's best for her,

and you get to decide what's best for you.

Nobody is saying you have to abort too —

just that you don't judge her, 'cause you don't know what she's going through.

And don’t even get me started on genocide and war.

Killing kids in their classrooms, their homes, their streets — what the fuck is it for?

Flags and borders, greed and power,

cowards in suits sending bombs by the hour.

You call it “strategy,” you call it “defence.”

I call it mass murder, dressed up in pretence.

So yeah… I’m angry.

Angry that we keep turning the same old page,

still building cages, and feeding rage.

Angry that hope feels foolish,

like betting on rain in a drought.

But hear me out:

If you don’t believe in better,

if you think compassion’s a wasted endeavour,

then it’s not the world that’s broken —

It's you.

If you think we can’t do better than this,

if you shrug and say “that’s just how it is”,

then you’re not seeing truth —

You’re the fucking problem.

By Peter Harris