Storytime
The baby at a mother’s breast was the first listener of a story
The mother was the first teller of a story.
To be a good mother you must tell good stories
To be a good mother you must teach good stories
To be a good mother you must sleep with your babies
To be a good mother you must talk to your children
To be a good mother you must limit screen time
To be a good mother you must sing your child to sleep
To be a good mother you must be able to sing.
To be a good mother you must exercise six weeks after birth
To be a good mother you should have a working understanding of essential oils.
To be a good mother you must do yoga
To be a good mother you must be a part of many Facebook groups that will tell you how to be a good mother.
To be a good mother you must memorize the dirty dozen.
To be a good mother you must produce good children.
Smart children.
Polite children.
To be a good children you must raise your hand in class.
To be a good child you must stand in a straight line.
To be a good child you must eat all your vegetables.
To be a good child you must color inside the lines when you are being creative.
To be a good child you must never talk back.
To be a good child you must do your homework.
To be a good child you must do your chores.
To be a good child you will perform well on tests.
To be a good child you will perform better than the next child.
To be a good child you must share.
To be a good child you must learn how to be self sufficient.
To be a good child you must learn to be a good robot.
To be a good grown up you must never ask for help.
Or receive government hand outs.
Or admit you don’t know the right answer.
To be a good grown up you must get a good job.
To be a good grown up you should first get a good education.
To be a good grown up you should be able to pay for your good education.
To be a good grown up you should have boot straps.
To be a good grown up you should get married and settle down and stop fucking around with your childish dreams which you shouldn’t even have if you had been a good child to begin with because having big dreams in life stops being cute after you’re like seven maybe because then you should have a better sense of the world you actually live in.
To be a good world you should support life.
To be a good world you should have no poverty.
To be a good world you should be peaceful.
To be a good world you should have oceans that are not acidic.
To be a good world you should have good leaders who tell good stories so good mothers know what to say.
Good leaders should not be mothers.
Good mothers make good lists.
Good mothers teach good stories.
Once upon a dream
In a time far
Ago
A baby first laughed
And it’s cry broke apart and danced in pieces
To become the great nation of America.
And other pieces landed too but they are not important.
America was the greatest nation in the world
America was the greatest nation in the world
Was
Past tense
Once upon a dream
In a galaxy long past
Men made America great again.
America was made great again.
America has great men.
Once upon a dream
In a land like yours
Now even
America is the greatest nation in the world.
On its own two feet.
Forging its own destiny.
Bulldozing though any obstacles.
Ideologies.
People.
That don’t know any better because they are not America.
Once upon a dream
In history
That happened
Little black boys and black girls held hands with little white boys and white girls
But not really because there are no black children here
You know, they aren’t zoned for this school
Except for one or two but they are just like us
And you should look beyond the color of someone’s skin
Better not to see it at all
Except that isn’t right anymore because all people should be seen
And heard
It’s important to be a good listener.
And aren’t we lucky that we were born
And don’t have to be afraid of the police
And don’t have a history of chains, and pain, and problems that won’t go away.
No I didn’t say it was unlucky to be be black that we should feel sorry for people if they were born black
That isn’t what I meant.
Once upon a dream
There was a kingdom
Realm
Monarchy
Empire
Democratic Republic
Where one vote is
Where one vote means
Once upon a dream
America was great again
But it
I mean We
Didn’t hurt poor countries as we continued to be great
And men did great things
And women did too
Or could do I mean
We know that it’s possible now
Almost
And the children held hands not because we told them to but because they saw themselves
In each other
But not without understanding that everyone has a self
And it doesn’t have to be like yourself to be a self
That is worth being
And the world was clean
And everybody had a job
But not the jobs that make the oceans acidic
And burgers magically were delicious and plentiful and did not contribute to heart disease or global warming and were the product of God’s country and farmers who loved the land and didn’t burn down anything to give them more grazing space to pee and eat
And cows magically didn’t eat or fart holes in the ozone
And they were delicious and healthy and also the cows didn’t die.
Or maybe that’s too far fetched
Maybe there were no cows
But everyone employed by big Ag still had jobs
That were good
And bootstraps
And children were creative and good and did everything we told them to do
Except completely of their own volition because they were so good.
Once upon a dream
Mothers did not tell lies to their children
Or at least knew which stories were lies and which were true
Once upon a dream
The baby at a mother’s breast listened to a story
And the mother knew what to say.
The mother was the first teller of a story.
To be a good mother you must tell good stories
To be a good mother you must teach good stories
To be a good mother you must sleep with your babies
To be a good mother you must talk to your children
To be a good mother you must limit screen time
To be a good mother you must sing your child to sleep
To be a good mother you must be able to sing.
To be a good mother you must exercise six weeks after birth
To be a good mother you should have a working understanding of essential oils.
To be a good mother you must do yoga
To be a good mother you must be a part of many Facebook groups that will tell you how to be a good mother.
To be a good mother you must memorize the dirty dozen.
To be a good mother you must produce good children.
Smart children.
Polite children.
To be a good children you must raise your hand in class.
To be a good child you must stand in a straight line.
To be a good child you must eat all your vegetables.
To be a good child you must color inside the lines when you are being creative.
To be a good child you must never talk back.
To be a good child you must do your homework.
To be a good child you must do your chores.
To be a good child you will perform well on tests.
To be a good child you will perform better than the next child.
To be a good child you must share.
To be a good child you must learn how to be self sufficient.
To be a good child you must learn to be a good robot.
To be a good grown up you must never ask for help.
Or receive government hand outs.
Or admit you don’t know the right answer.
To be a good grown up you must get a good job.
To be a good grown up you should first get a good education.
To be a good grown up you should be able to pay for your good education.
To be a good grown up you should have boot straps.
To be a good grown up you should get married and settle down and stop fucking around with your childish dreams which you shouldn’t even have if you had been a good child to begin with because having big dreams in life stops being cute after you’re like seven maybe because then you should have a better sense of the world you actually live in.
To be a good world you should support life.
To be a good world you should have no poverty.
To be a good world you should be peaceful.
To be a good world you should have oceans that are not acidic.
To be a good world you should have good leaders who tell good stories so good mothers know what to say.
Good leaders should not be mothers.
Good mothers make good lists.
Good mothers teach good stories.
Once upon a dream
In a time far
Ago
A baby first laughed
And it’s cry broke apart and danced in pieces
To become the great nation of America.
And other pieces landed too but they are not important.
America was the greatest nation in the world
America was the greatest nation in the world
Was
Past tense
Once upon a dream
In a galaxy long past
Men made America great again.
America was made great again.
America has great men.
Once upon a dream
In a land like yours
Now even
America is the greatest nation in the world.
On its own two feet.
Forging its own destiny.
Bulldozing though any obstacles.
Ideologies.
People.
That don’t know any better because they are not America.
Once upon a dream
In history
That happened
Little black boys and black girls held hands with little white boys and white girls
But not really because there are no black children here
You know, they aren’t zoned for this school
Except for one or two but they are just like us
And you should look beyond the color of someone’s skin
Better not to see it at all
Except that isn’t right anymore because all people should be seen
And heard
It’s important to be a good listener.
And aren’t we lucky that we were born
And don’t have to be afraid of the police
And don’t have a history of chains, and pain, and problems that won’t go away.
No I didn’t say it was unlucky to be be black that we should feel sorry for people if they were born black
That isn’t what I meant.
Once upon a dream
There was a kingdom
Realm
Monarchy
Empire
Democratic Republic
Where one vote is
Where one vote means
Once upon a dream
America was great again
But it
I mean We
Didn’t hurt poor countries as we continued to be great
And men did great things
And women did too
Or could do I mean
We know that it’s possible now
Almost
And the children held hands not because we told them to but because they saw themselves
In each other
But not without understanding that everyone has a self
And it doesn’t have to be like yourself to be a self
That is worth being
And the world was clean
And everybody had a job
But not the jobs that make the oceans acidic
And burgers magically were delicious and plentiful and did not contribute to heart disease or global warming and were the product of God’s country and farmers who loved the land and didn’t burn down anything to give them more grazing space to pee and eat
And cows magically didn’t eat or fart holes in the ozone
And they were delicious and healthy and also the cows didn’t die.
Or maybe that’s too far fetched
Maybe there were no cows
But everyone employed by big Ag still had jobs
That were good
And bootstraps
And children were creative and good and did everything we told them to do
Except completely of their own volition because they were so good.
Once upon a dream
Mothers did not tell lies to their children
Or at least knew which stories were lies and which were true
Once upon a dream
The baby at a mother’s breast listened to a story
And the mother knew what to say.