They cannot keep us down
(*gotta "love" those poetry inspiring compsci classes*)
(*written first half April 1997*)

in the dark dreary classroom
there is a window
for while I can see notes and overheads and endless diagrams
and while I must copy them down though the words miss my soul
while I hear the prof drudge slowly through examples asking 
mindless rheoterical 
questions designed to reinforce our stupidity
I'm also looking out the window and it is snowing and beautiful
they cannot keep us down

They can dull our minds with techno-jargin
teach us the accepted and only way
stuff us with rote learning
but they cannot keep us down

Because we have the truth
Because we are not alone

Because technology can be and is subversive
ask the zapatistas

Because we lead duplicit lives
we study but also STRUGGLE

Deep inside is power, of overwhelming love
that ther hate, promises of six digit salaries, and pleas towards 
our 
materialism and inhumanity can never match

Because history of dissent and rebellion runs strong in all 
authoritarian 
societies
Because the people are strong and despite the bruises, the 
beatings, the guns 
that point, the soldiers that growl, the whirling gunships 
overhead, the 
mindless dribble shutting off our thoughts (our minds) spawned by 
the electro-
tubes.
We are still here.

Because God works in mysterious ways
Because God is on OUR side

Because we will be out on the streets, in the highways and 
biways, where the man 
never goes
in the shantytowns and boudonvilles that surround their centers 
of power
in the forests, the mines, and factories
inspite of any court orders
All the time telling our story
the story of those who have and those who don't
those who have taken and from whom they have taken
the exploiters and the exploited
them and us
Remembring that it is not always going to be this way
Telling the story of those who've stood up and fought
many times just to get gunned down on the streets by the 
Pinkertons or the 
illegitimate authority of the state
or arrested, tortured, tortured again, tortured again, tortured 
again
But occasionally to win
sometimes big, most often small
but both setback and victory are steps along the path
to a different kingdom
that will come
when those who have been push down: decompress
and start to push back against the weights that squash
the fallen shall rise, and rise and rise
We will soar to lofty heights, above the darkness, above their 
hate, above them, 
over the clouds (of capitalism) and into the (God's) light

Yes it is true
and it will start today
Because they cannot keep us down!