(i) Static, Dad's trailing off again
Static, indelibly etched
Static, criss-cross, criss-crossed
It's only 9pm and we're all ten-ten-ten-tensed
Pregnant with words best left unsaid
You're blue, he's green, she's red
Red? Angry? Embarrassed?
Agitated and pacing from certain discomforting revelations?
Feign interest for 90 seconds
Or indulge in the 9,000,000 possibilities imprinted in your ass

No shit!

(ii) Co-workers shuffling over how you pray and eat and sleep
Wake to fresh histories of violence that their crooked fingers weave
Wal-Mart greeters putter closer keep tabs on favorite brands of bread
While the fawning nation ignores an American father & son laid dead

Shock! Awe!
No shit!

Who can't help but change the subject? Who tanked a generation?
Who abandoned those they'd orphaned to the first family'd fuckin' take 'em?
Whose mouth made a promise to watch another take it back
And mutters steady streams of slurs as the screen click-clacks to black?

Shock! Awe!
No shit!

The violence of history held in rosy hues
But these histories of violence gotcha feelin' screwed?

Explanation:

(i) For every cause, an effect: apathy, indecision, and unwillingness to confront difficult truths are qualities deeply ingrained in the American character. The resulting culture of detachment has led to a continual sabotaging of our own best interests and of those of the less privileged worldwide.

(ii) For every transgression, vengeance: the ascendence of outfits like the Islamic State in the Middle East is a frightening development, but its roots lie in decades of American imposition. There is an upwards limit to human suffering: when Americans are assassinated without due process and spied upon at their places of work, worship, and leisure; when civilians abroad are considered necessary collateral damage; when children grow up in the shadow of daily bomb raids; and hospitals, schools, and homes are targeted in pursuit of former allies, people will seek order from any source.