Anxiety (2023) Poem by Morgan Balanaser

Sitting in a waiting room, or
walking through a thrift store
I'm sometimes frozen by anxiety at the thought
That these others around me would have opposed me being in here mask-free a few short years ago

How can such people be so cruel?
It's clear enough
False narratives promoted by governments, and press
who do not value truth

But how can I survive in this close-minded society?
Where people follow government edict like drones, and don't stop to question it.

What value is there here, where truth spoken goes unheard?

And lie's distributed are blindly believed by the ignorant masses who wrongly think listening to TV, radio, and newspapers makes them informed.