fraud

I want to sue the white house for misrepresentation
for fraud
for taxation without representation
for taking my money in the fall
and refusing to spend it in the spring
on art, humanities, overseas aid, books, libraries, public radio
on plants, animals, clear skies, clean water

you see taxes
are an incremental thing
when I paid them, monthly from my salary,
the social contract included things I care about
now my taxes pay for
deportation, the cost of lost jobs
the enshitification of everything
my taxes pay for children to die of preventable diseases
and worse
my taxes pay for children to die of gunshots to the head

Potterville comes to mind
the place the angel shows Jimmy Stewart
the town in Its a Wonderful Life
that descended into a hellscape
of capital without the banker who gave his life to love

drunkenly askew from his kind hearted reality

In Trumpville

mothers and children stand out in the dark rain
while ICE searches their house for someone to deport
and then the agents take all their money and leave
with no word of return

In Trumpville

wild promises of DOGE personal checks fly around the internet
while people lose jobs by the tens of thousands
and the cronies in charge sell their own currency
and profit in the billions

In Trumpville,

Scrooge sees no ghosts of Christmas
and never learns to care for Tiny Tim
no God Bless us everyone
for the US of A

In Trumpville

there are no angels, no mercies, no love

I didn’t pay my taxes to Trumpville
but now I live there