"I thought"


So Americans are taking trips to Mars

But I thought aliens were bad

I thought we were frightened by the extraterrestrial

Not enamored by them

Well-mannered for them

At first sight, our soliloquies become stammers for them

I thought we were building a barricade to 

block inward-bound aliens 

I didn’t think we were shaping shuttles to scamper

Onto supernatural soil

I thought we were supposed to block the aliens from 

The ballot box by requiring paperwork they didn’t have

In languages they couldn’t read

As the accents they couldn’t comprehend

Laughed them out of their houses, down the street, and “back where you came from

I thought we believed in ICE cold temperaments and searing hypocrisy 

Pureblood residence, and the Self-Righteousness of Socrates

But now we’re making Mars our settlement, becoming the immigrants we called atrocities

Rockets in quantity

At rapid velocity

Our vision’s viscosity 

Makes us reject other geographies

I thought the notion of an immigrant was to be the scapegoat of this democracy

But seeing now that our hatred for aliens has been withdrawn 

I guess I thought wrong

Micheal Kawooya

Editor: Michela Rowland