What Rough Beast | Poem for December 28, 2019

Adelia E. Ritchie
First They’ll Come for the Journalists

First they’ll come for the journalists.
They’ll toss them in jail like murder suspects,
but those lying meddlers won’t be missed.

Writers, reporters and cartoonists—
then atheists, leftists, and network execs—
but first they’ll come for the journalists.

Science and data, officials insist,
have no bearing on climate effects.
Those lying reporters won’t be missed.

Physicians, teachers and scientists,
their threat to this government is more complex,
but first they’ll come for the journalists.

If the media’s lying, does truth exist?
They’ll get ‘em for treason or other pretext.
Those fact-checking meddlers won’t be missed.

Now handcuffed and gagged, they no longer resist
And we don’t know what happened next.
First they came for the journalists
Those lying meddlers won’t be missed.

Adelia E. Ritchie holds a BS in chemistry and physics from the University of West Florida, and an MS and PhD in physical organic chemistry from Northwestern University. She works with educators, organizers and strategists to promote a deeper understanding of the science of climate change and its impacts on the complex ecological web of life. Ritchie resides in Hansville, Wash., with her garden, her dogs, and a flock of very entertaining chickens.

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