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.
Time is running out to have your gift matched
In this time of unrelenting, often unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness, I’m grateful for Nation readers like you.
So many of you have taken to the streets, organized in your neighborhood and with your union, and showed up at the ballot box to vote for progressive candidates. You’re proving that it is possible—to paraphrase the legendary Patti Smith—to redeem the work of the fools running our government.
And as we head into 2026, I promise that The Nation will fight like never before for justice, humanity, and dignity in these United States.
At a time when most news organizations are either cutting budgets or cozying up to Trump by bringing in right-wing propagandists, The Nation’s writers, editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, and illustrators confront head-on the administration’s deadly abuses of power, blatant corruption, and deconstruction of both government and civil society.
We couldn’t do this crucial work without you.
Through the end of the year, a generous donor is matching all donations to The Nation’s independent journalism up to $75,000. But the end of the year is now only days away.
Time is running out to have your gift doubled. Don’t wait—donate now to ensure that our newsroom has the full $150,000 to start the new year.
Another world really is possible. Together, we can and will win it!
Love and Solidarity,
John Nichols
Executive Editor, The Nation
