Lilija Valis: Freedom on the Fault Line

This past weekend, I spoke at a wonderful libertarian conference in Vancouver, BC. One of the speakers was a poet, Lilija Valis, who is originally from Lithuania. She has a forthcoming book of her poetry, Freedom on the Fault Line, from which she read the following. I reproduce them here with her permission, and eagerly await reading the rest of her poems when her book comes out in September. I have nothing to add, as her words eloquently speak for themselves.

Equality

Equality is reassurance your neighbor
will not get too far ahead of you.

The promise is we’re all one
but someone else decides which one.

Force is used to take from you
to give to others not of your choosing.

Equality invites not doing more
than others, until nothing works.

Plymouth Pilgrims lived it
into discord and starvation.

It continues to inspire. Unmarked
mass graves testify to its appeal.

Inequality is an open road.
A safe journey is not guaranteed.

No assurance is motivation
for hard work and invention.

Want and envy are harnessed
to produce what others desire.

Choice is virtue’s tool:
You cannot escape responsibility.

Equality is theft.
Inequality is insecurity.

Fairness and equality
are forever estranged.

Equality or freedom. The more
you have of one, the less of the other.

Politics

Politics is not politics.

It’s what you think of me
and how I see you;

it’s family and the stranger;
it’s who will do the work
and who will get the reward;

it’s how we decide
who owns what and
who the thieves are;

it’s how we act when
we see a child broken
from a beating or a dog
chained and starved;

it’s marriage and divorce
and what we teach our children;

it’s what we do when floods
carry away our lives,
when fire surrounds us.

No, politics is not politics;
it’s you and me
and how we decide
to live together;

it’s love and hate
and everything in between.