You Look at the Crime and You Look at the Criminal
By Justin Karcher
On a day like today
the sun shoots into America’s chest
and turns her heart
into a courtroom
when we’re at our worst
we always feel
like there’s something to prove
sometimes there’s too much fire
on our tongues
and it’s tough to tell
right from wrong
cigarette holes on motel bibles
even when we’re at our best
we still kinda act like liars
America’s heart isn’t just a courtroom
bursting into flames
it’s also a time traveling grave
whenever we think we’re touching the future
it pulls us into the past
land of trees, which are more like tumors
gossip meets gospel, the air a hateful podcast
yet we do what we can, enforce justice
love one another, try to eradicate the numbness
punish the wicked, poke holes in cloud cover
find stars that shine, open your ears and listen
cuz there’s music out there, songs to honor victims
it’s a beautiful dream, but reality is harsh
cruel and ugly, the murderer in a moonbeam
then the righteous lawyers
sleeping in bombed-out houses
then the angry fathers punching walls
and wanting knockouts
then the crooked cops
pretending they’re frostbitten scarecrows
then the weeping mothers
burying their children in the rotten afterglow
oh, what a world that we call home
permanently unhealthy like Styrofoam
practice goodness anyway you can
or else no more ocean for the fisherman