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Our Imagination

from Notes from a Failed State by David Rovics

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At times like these, when the possibilities for implementing radical change are really pretty immense, one of our biggest obstacles, other than the obvious forces of law and a very fucked up order, are our own minds. In order to change the world, we first have to be able to imagine the society we want to create.

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Our Imagination

It's at moments like these, everything is in the air
The possibilities are nowhere and everywhere
You got to break a bone to set it, and now all we are is broke
A lot of folks are saying it's time to be woke
And they're not talking about microaggressions, but the really big ones
The basic assumptions, like planets circling suns
But there are no natural laws that built your mansions or your tents
These are creations of society – just like mortgages and rent

It's a future of uncertainty, but our liberation
Can only be as free as our imagination

If you were born and raised to believe it sacrosanct
That whoever has a whole lot of money in the bank
Deserves to then live off the wealth from the houses that they own
And if they raise your rent you can move or take out a loan
Then how can you demand your human rights
If you don't believe you have any, as if you deserve your plight
But if things were hard before, now the system has flatlined
Time for those basic rights to be redefined

All these vaunted freedoms added to the Constitution
As an afterthought, after Shays' Rebellion
Did not include the right to land, or the right to eat
Or the right for human beings not to be dying on the street
It's moments like these, standing on the edge
That we might catch the strongest breeze, to land furthest from the ledge
We can fly, you know – all you need is wings
We can house and feed each other – together, we can do anything

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from Notes from a Failed State, released June 4, 2020

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David Rovics Portland, Oregon

Singer/songwriter, writer, podcaster (on Spotify, Substack & Patreon), anarchist, dad, lover of life.

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