Hello
Hello
We went to Montreal recently
On a school trip for our band.
We almost didn't have a performance to go watch
Or a friendship concert with another school
Because who wants to be friends with the children of a country so golden
It's been poisoned by our leader?
It was a good trip, and the kids I met there were the same as any other middle schoolers –
Goofy, a little weird, funny.
We joked around with them.
We had a good time performing music for each other.
We almost couldn't, but
This school reached out and said they would welcome us
When nowhere else would;
Giving us the benefit of the doubt.
Hello, neighbors.
I never wanted this to happen.
A nightmare fantasy in actuality
A reign of terror so complete America's children can barely make friends
With any other country's.
What if I want to make friends?
What if, on that trip
I was ashamed to be associated with such an awful human being?
A leader should bring the world together
Especially the leader of a country that has historically always been there for her neighbors.
A leader should not destroy other countries
Out of the petty rottenness of his own cracked heart.
Am I not allowed to write this?
Is the question I'm forced to ask myself.
Should I keep my head down and pretend everything is fine
That what came to light on that trip to Canada stayed dusty and hidden forever?
But I'm done keeping my head down.
I rally against what our president has done to our Canadian neighbors.
And so, I say hello
In the hopes that they won't hate me for where I'm from
And scream into the night
Of the injustices that have only just begun.
The Voice
May 2025
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