Welfare Check
When I say I’m okay, it’s just nobody’s coming
to save me. I’m out of sight this way.
With my mouth muddled
I’m so safe. I speak most clearly
when I’m dangerous. Step to and the room grows dim,
let my word slip and the whole world turns
fire and hiss under my tongue. I’ll say I didn’t
mean it but I did. You’ll feel better soon, the night
sagging in its silence again. It’s just what you won’t
see: I drift all around me
in the snow our shapes make.
I move through America looking up
at the trees, which are stolen, this land
a vast and stolen thing and I
a stolen thing deposited within it. When I say
I’m okay, I mean I’m just one
black ripple on a black sea.
I hear that sound my shape makes
in your mind’s darkest room.
I am most dangerous
when I speak.
I step in the fire and hiss.
The whole world turns.
Everyone’s looking, but nobody sees.
Your support makes stories like this possible
From illegal war on Iran to an inhumane fuel blockade of Cuba, from AI weapons to crypto corruption, this is a time of staggering chaos, cruelty, and violence.
Unlike other publications that parrot the views of authoritarians, billionaires, and corporations, The Nation publishes stories that hold the powerful to account and center the communities too often denied a voice in the national media—stories like the one you’ve just read.
Each day, our journalism cuts through lies and distortions, contextualizes the developments reshaping politics around the globe, and advances progressive ideas that oxygenate our movements and instigate change in the halls of power.
This independent journalism is only possible with the support of our readers. If you want to see more urgent coverage like this, please donate to The Nation today.
