Some days I wish
You could see me
In my southern life.
I know you think you’re educated;
And sure you know what’s right.
I’ve seen every pretty cruelty
Of wealth and of right.
And southern nations
Share what it’s like

When the northern military comes
With capital for guns and debt.
The hemispheric lines are drawn
And the rich are coming for revenge.
And loans like shiny things
Draw us in, but they come with strings
Their boom is our bust.
Another world is possible I know
For in the South I trust.

Last year, we had a revolution
At the ballot box
Our first peasant leader of Indian blood.
The rich sought to secede
They love our country only when
Our country they can run.
I fought them in the street
They knocked me to my knees
And I looked up as I breathed
And saw the models on the billboard
All were blonde.

When the northern military comes
With capital for guns, and dreams
Which they’re selling
On the street again
And someday we’ll accept it seems.

That’s the way it is with shiny things
They draw us in
Then pull our strings
And disappear and rust
Another world is possible I know
For in the South I trust!

Calling all ye faithful to repair
In our southern hemisphere
We work, we lay our lives bare
But capital is scarce
And change is rare.

Some days, I wish you would see us
And maybe change your life.
Change your politics before we slip
Beneath your rising tide.

When the northern military comes
With capital for guns and liquidity
And they tell us how our lives could be
If we’d only let them run our economy.
Loans like shiny things draw us in
But we cut the strings; and we’ll do what we must
Another world is possible I know
For in the South I trust.
Every day another dawn, come on now
Another world is possible I know . . .

I have no time for reality shows; Anacostia’s outside my window.
In La Paz, people prove when we get on the street we can still make things move.
Hey perhaps, perhaps – today will be our day. Perhaps, perhaps – otro mundo es posible.
Perhaps, we’ll ask you join up in the fray . . .

Agents of the state are here standing on our throats; while everyone in Washington
wears the same winter coat. Why must I still walk alone why must I test my mettle?
Well I’m still shutting down like it’s 1999 in Seattle. And I see the improbably long march
left to go; and we’re rag-tag and unlikely I know. But don’t you look to me for no sorrow.

You’ll find, you’ll find – no defeated people. No hay, no hay – pueblo vencido.

I’m patient now, and all because of loss. See I’ve fought for dreams and I know
how much they cost. Your irony is cheap. Follow me to Freetown and see if they agree.

Puede ser, puede, today will be our day. Puede ser, puede, otro mundo es posible.
Perhaps, I’ll ask, you get out of the way . . .

She fell on the bridge, silent; bleeding from the throat
While everyone in Washington wore the same winter coat.
Why must I still walk alone, why must I test my mettle?
Well I’m still shutting down like it’s 1999 in Seattle.
En mi parroquia luchadora El 23 de Enero
Enfrentamos los poderosos y su dinero.
Pues póngase de pie compañero

You’ll find, you’ll find no defeated people
No hay, no hay pueblo vencido.

These are the people
Of childlike races
So the generals say.
This is the culture
Of familiar faces
The prisoners play.

I was one of the young prodigies
Conceiving a new day.
My imaginings
Drew the stern hand
These are the ways
To make a rebel behave.

These are the ways
To make a rebel behave.
The prizes to the pious,
And to the rebel the shame.
Prostrate; silent.

They will gather us in the stadium
Drug us and drop us from planes.
Dismiss and disdain the cadence
To make a rebel behave.

These are the ways
To make a rebel behave.

Power is all about memory
And the writings of history
And if we fail to get ours in . . .

I’ve a photo of you praying
On the day of the invasion
The one keepsake I’m saving
Against the day
They make a rebel behave.

Now the problem power faces
How to occupy the spaces
Of the memory we’re making.

Today the poets dream a nation
From memories we’d forsaken.
Our conquered imagination
All the ways
They made a rebel behave.

These are the people of childlike races
This is the culture of familiar faces
Now the lines of dissent we’re tracing
Disappear
These are the ways
To make a rebel behave.

All is hope. All is hope.

I feel like I’ve seen so much
24 karats or maybe years.
I’m sure I seem out of touch
With who you are, but give me my orders, I’ll fall in
Fall in.

I know you well enough
To know you’re never well.
And I’ve held you close enough to not care.
I’m not the only one
Who’s tried to make you whole.
And I’ve no illusions, only intentions
The best that we can bear.

I
Won’t be caught in a lie.

You know me well
I cannot lie to you
But maybe myself.
I’ve sold it well.

I caught myself in a lie.
I complicate you, and that’s the part
That I like least.
Love thyself, but who should thyself love?
We all want a piece of you
But you only want peace.

I
Won’t be caught in a lie.