Conversation 25
Another Kind of Worse
Steven Heighton
Slip a sling blade in your pocket
Pack a pistol in your purse
Bomb those Persians in their mosque or
Shoot the shooter in your church
But when it comes to the inner fight
We’re all curiously averse
‘Cause brother, we ain’t better
We’re just another kind of worse.
Some say we’ll hear angel choirs
If we just outshout the haters
Out-hate far right online liars
And these fires all will fade out
But the only music we hear now
Are these sirens on the earth
And brother, hate ain’t better
It’s just another kind of worse.
We nice guys love a fallen cause
World peace or Esperanto
At night we march with John Brown
In our dreams and hate Monsanto
But maybe now all this righteous rage
Is just full-speed in reverse
Yeah, brother, it ain’t better
It’s just another kind of worse.
Let’s drive racists back underground
Your bumper sticker said
As if a problem buried deep
Is as good as gone or dead
You promise we’ll see paradise
If we kill all the bad guys first
But brother, death ain’t better
It’s just another kind of worse.
And I accuse good folks like me
Of gloating that we’re nice
Then when you crack the surface
You find envy, fear and vice
We smile as though we like you
But our virtue’s all rehearsed
We preach on the planet while we plan out
The beach tours we deserve
Tell me, how are we a step up
From the sinners that we curse?
No, brother, we ain’t better
We’re just another kind of worse.
Listen, brother, we ain’t better
We’re just another kind of worse.
