# State Secrets *Original Poetry* By [Scotty Gee Posts Stuff](https://paragraph.com/@scottygee) · 2024-07-31 poetry, writing, poem --- There are state secrets Lurking in the bedrooms, and bathrooms And dark recesses of the nation They exist in the wife She is mired in a depression Because her husband hasn’t touched her in months They live in the husband He is in a deep, dark hole That’s the only way that he can get hard They eat away at the son He is bullied at school And is consumed by visions of himself swinging from a rope They have poisoned the daughter She feels ugly and worthless And thinks that the only way she’ll find love is by spreading her legs They are your neighbours and friends, they are you and me We peer over the hedge At Bob and his new Corvette The bald, twice divorced, mid-life crisis prick! We watch the news Gleefully waiting to pounce And find another reason to climb onto our battered, footprint worn soapbox One day we are foreign policy experts And the next day we are economists Even though we can’t pay our own bills unless the computer reminds us Perceived slights and injustices Finally get us off our couches Pitchforks in hand looking to make someone pay In theory anyway You can’t have a resistance behind a keyboard Get out there and fight If you’re so convinced of the righteousness of your cause No war has ever been won with emojis Look inward, old salt Look inward and make peace With the fact that you can’t fix the world if you can’t clean your goddamn room You can’t cure cancer if you can’t swallow your own medicine You can’t stand up for others if you won’t stand up for yourself You can’t rid the world of hate if you hate me for what I believe You can’t spread the truth if you lie to yourself about your place in the world You can’t be a champion for women if you’re just trying to get laid You can’t advocate for those that have less simply because you hate those that have more You can’t shout about freedom from oppression then oppress those that speak of freedom You can’t put me on trial for crimes committed hundreds of years ago by people I’ve never met You can’t stamp out hate and prejudice by being hateful and prejudiced You won’t dictate to me the words that I must use But you’ll try, surely you’ll try There are state secrets Lurking in the classrooms, and kitchens, And coffee houses of the nation Our egos deceive us into believing That we can cure the ills of a nation When our own existence is a landmine Just waiting to be stepped on Humanity as a whole cannot be repaired When the individual pieces are disintegrating Into sharp craggy pieces For us to fall upon and be skewered So do your dishes Paint your house Repair your fence Repair your marriage Clean up your neighbourhood Learn a new skill Be better at your job Get in shape Stop lying Don’t judge Open up Take chances You can’t proclaim to fix the world If your own life is on fire You can’t be a saviour When you yourself need saving There are state secrets Lurking in your bedroom. --- *Originally published on [Scotty Gee Posts Stuff](https://paragraph.com/@scottygee/state-secrets)*