On the eve of the destruction of all we hold dear in our democracy
At the edge of the cliff
In the belly of The Beast (yes, the one in the Bible)
it’s normal to consider giving up
letting go
After all, I am not the one in peril
Straight, white, cisgender old lady – what, me worry?
And when Reagan, begging for re-election, asked, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” my answer was “Is that WE singular or plural?” cuz my friends were dying of AIDS and he did nothing
So it’s a Reagan moment writ large, and the WE is definitely plural
WE are immigrants scared to send our kids to school, to go to work
WE are trans women being shouted at in the gendered restrooms
WE are trans and nonbinary kids whose parents want to help us avoid puberty until we figure that shit out
WE are pregnant and don’t want to have a baby
WE are Black and brown Americans, trying to stay alive
WE are unhoused without health care, living in a car with our kids
WE are vulnerable and scared and just plain tired of the fear
So the call is real, the pull is strong, to step into the breach
To stand in the way of bullies, to fight book banners, to help people get their abortions safely, to open churches to immigrants AND stand at the door when ICE shows up and say
YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME
When the Thought Police try to harass our youth
YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME
When insecure men in red hats (brown shirts) pull their crap
YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME
And I refuse to stand still; I refuse to stay silent; I refuse to bend my knee
I refuse to be a Good German
© 2025 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
For What’s Going On, with thanks to all the rabblerousers there.
NOTE: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and JD Vance can kiss my Irish ass. But you already knew that. Amy
Sharp Little Pencil 
Sumana Roy
The lines sent a chill running down my spine. Wow! Your whole poem can be summed up in the title too: “I Refuse to Be a Good German”. That little touch of history makes it clear what the eve of destruction looks like.
Sharp Little Pencil
My Luka’s Oma (their father’s mother) was a Holocaust survivor. All the stories she told, all the stories i have read… I take the concept seriously. And literally. So thanks very much for your words. Peace.
mybeautfulthings
Brilliant and chilling. We watch from the UK feeling fear for the world.
Sharp Little Pencil
I just went to your blog and saw that lovely picture of the cathedral. It warmed my heart. Here in the States, we need all the beauty we can get right now. Thanks.
Penelope Notes
Well expressed. Resistance is not futile. Ordinary citizens who are extremely tired of it all must yet again rise up and insist their leaders stop the lunacy and do better.
Sharp Little Pencil
I stopped by your blog, lovely. Resistance is just about the only hope we seem to have… we Americans have become complacent, and a strongman took advantage. Now it’s up to us who didn’t vote for this to get off our butts and do the work.
Mary
Test
Sharp Little Pencil
You completed the assignment, lol
Mary
I just posted a long comment….which said it could not be posted. HMMMM. So then I wrote the test comment, and oddly that went through. I wonder if google didn’t like my words & wouldn’t post my comment….???
I will try again. Your words are powerful, Amy. I like the emphasis on the word WE. So very true…WE are all being attacked if one among us is being attacked. WE have to stand with one another. WE are all vulnerable, no matter if at the moment the eyes are not on us…they will be soon, if not now. I like “You will have to go through me.” That is powerful. We all should, in ways we can, stand firm….stand for something….not bend the knee.
So nice to see you again, Amy. Your words always SAY something.
Sharp Little Pencil
Mary, this means so much to me. I have long admired your work, which is considered and deep. The WE of me, remember that in school? Wasn’t it The Member of the Wedding?
I don’t think Google is censoring you. I mean, look at all the swears I use in my poetry, hee hee hee. If anyone should be censored, it’s me with my potty mouth!
Sherry Marr
Sigh. Like Mary, every comment I post today, the first one is not accepted but the second one is. You have expressed here so powerfully all I am feeling and cant find words for. It is so horrifying. Unbelievable. And yet happening. I so admire your kick-ass spirit and love your footnote to the ghastly trio. So good to read your words this morning.
Sharp Little Pencil
Gosh, I have missed you, Sherry. It seems as though it takes a catastrophe to get me writing again! So I expect a lot of blogging in the near future, because that man is catastrophic mayhem. The first time around, at the beginning, we couldn’t stop laughing bc he was so ridiculous. We stopped laughing a few months in. This time, when I woke up the day after the elections (I didn’t watch the returns), Lex greeted me with a cup of coffee. I said, “Is it bad?” He made a sad face and said, “It’s so bad.” So no laughter this time, not after that January 6 travesty.
I just tried your link, and it’s not working. Will find you the old-fashioned way! Love, Amy
susanstoo
“YOU WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME
And I refuse to stand still; I refuse to stay silent; I refuse to bend my knee
I refuse to be a Good German”
OUCH! I like the strength of the declaration that “You will have to go through me” and the parts of the poem that lead to this conclusion. I hope I gain the courage to say NO and stand up. In the meantime, my poems must work for me.
Roger Owen Green
I just answered a question about John Brown and the Civil War and if I see parallels. (It’s more complicated that that, but…) Anyway,
Do I think people will die? Yes, because the willy-nilly dismemberment of agencies who are staffed by people who know how to do stuff, such as feed small children (USAID), respond to disaster (FEMA), etc, etc
Do I think Americans will be detained? Sure, when things are newly illegal. DEI, books, abortion, transgenderism.
Will people be killed? The pardoning of the Jan 6 thugs suggests yes.
Roger
I linked to this on Feb 15, fyi