Immigration, detention, unequal pay
are modern words for slavery again.
Dictatorship, borders. Any imposition
of one’s will over another
is a form of slavery.
Even the legal rules that enslave:
debt, foreclosure,
poverty above all.
Any compromise of humanity
is a form of bondage.
Then, what can the Arts
do to liberate anybody?
Only this meagerness to witness.
Change the oppression of culture
by conscientiousness. Reintroduce and revalue
cultural shame for exploitation.
Live this illumination
and help another stand
upright, self-determined,
with a soul unbent.