How To Write a Poem - "First They Came..."

Yuri's slam poetry debut in recognition of those persecuted by tyrannical governments

Comrades: Let us pray for all who are being persecuted by tyrannical governments and for everyone else to wake up before it’s too late.

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First they came for the unvaccinated
And I did not speak out
Because I was vaccinated and boosted, not an anti-vaxxer

Then they came for the truckers
And I did not speak out
Because I was not an extreme fringe minority trucker

Then they came for the indigenous elders
And I did not speak out
Because I was not an anti-science indigenous elder

Then they came for the MAGAts
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a racist fascist Nazi election-denying MAGAt

Then they came for the memesmiths
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a misinformation-spreading far-right memesmith

Then they came for the pastors
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a bigoted Christofascist pastor

Then they came for the parents
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a transphobic parent

Then they came for the kids
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a kid

Then they came for the journalists
And I did not speak out
Because they were “so-called” journalists, not real trusted ones like those on CNN

Then they came for the anti-war left
And I did not speak out
Because I was not in the anti-war left and I believe all women #MeToo

Then they came for the farmers
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a conspiracy theorist farmer

Then they came for the cows
And I did not speak out
Because I was a vegan and didn’t eat cows

Then they came for the whales
And I did not speak out
Because I wanted Greta to be happy with wind turbines

Then they came for the small businesses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a greedy capitalist

Then they came for the Confederates
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Confederate

Then they came for the Founding Fathers
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a colonizer

Then they came for the Boers
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Boer

Then they came for the Uncle Toms
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a race traitor Uncle Tom

Then they came for the white-adjacent
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a white-adjacent

Then they came for the Christian Armenians
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Christian Armenian

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for the cars
And I did not speak out
Because I didn’t drive, mass transit and biking were more sustainable

Then they came for the stoves
And I did not speak out
Because I didn’t cook, ordering takeout was easier

Then they came for the cash
And I did not speak out
Because I didn’t use cash, credit cards were easier

Then they came for the guns
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a gun owner

Then they came for the carbon
And I did not speak out
Because I was not emitting carbon… oh wait

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

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But I thought if I complied my social credit score would be high enough to avoid punishment!

In April, I published my first fiction piece. It was in the form of a scandalous sex diary. Today’s poem was also from the perspective of an NPC and is a twist on a classic.