america, these smokey deep orange sunrises
these flames of forests burning, smoke of trees homes dreams lives dying
first responder sirens all night wailing, pandemic still taking
flames of blame burning, smoke of conspiracies whirling
a 4k oled screen trying to flash, in a cloud of fucking ash
pushed along, carried and spread by wind raining white hot embers and sparks
pushed along, carried and spread by humans being human and moving
cuz they had places they needed to be, faces they needed to see, a life they needed to be
on planes, ships, buses, cars, bicycles, feet, finger tips, on a cough, by a sneeze
pushed along, carried and spread by desktops, laptops and tv phones, on anything with a screen
all all all of our billions of beautiful screens
and all that power to see anything anything anything
but we choose to see only only only
what we want to see
if that’s the sorting algorithm, here’s the philosophy
if disinformation streams in high definition
what definition is the information
when the rumors and lies are delivered for free
does the truth cost too much to see
america, these dusty halos hazing out the sun
centuries ago, what we once could not name or explain
we ascribed to a god above
but now, confirmation bias spreads like a virus
so a digital edge gets caught up in our heads
this can’t see a human
being human
just a race
just a tribe
of our own assuming
for some algorithm’s amusement
so now, what we don’t want to deal with, refuse to see
we push away into conspiracy
just turn away saying get the fuck away from me
pandemic dna from 7000 miles away
wildfire smoke from 1400 miles away
a deepfake video produced in a country far away
but the mistrust and bloodshed these create is right here
between you and me
between the united states of all of us
distracting blame games, backfiring false flags
the social media shit talking, the boasts, the braying
the open threats made
they flash on our hi-def screens
inches from our face
america, these smokey deep red sunsets
these emptied out downtowns hurting, a family’s empty storefront burning
helicopters all night circling, particles of a virus swirling
words of blame burning, smoke of conspiracies churning
a gigapixel camera trying to flash, through a rain of fucking ash
when i see the sun rising darker and hazier than normal
over the minneapolis skyline as i’m driving
the work truck east down 394 these autumn mornings
when i see the sun falling darker and blurrier than normal
down into the minneapolis skyline as i’m biking
across the franklin avenue bridge these autumn evenings
i try to imagine the burning forests of america
or maybe it’s just me caught in the burning forests of my mind
i’ll meet you there, outside these fucking selfie frames
find me there too, at that place beyond disinformation’s games
and they, they are there, very much alive despite our shit talking
despite their own hard earned scars of surviving
and all of us, we can trip out and push away
or we can turn around unafraid to stay and face the news
beyond these smoking screens of fear
what’s smoke and signal is clear
