Politics is not politics.

It’s what you think of me
and how I see you;

it’s family and the stranger;
it’s who will do the work
and who will get the reward;

it’s how we decide
who owns what and
who the thieves are;

it’s how we act when
we see a child broken
from a beating or a dog
chained and starved;

it’s marriage and divorce
and what we teach our children.

it’s what we do when floods
carry away our lives,
when fire surrounds us.

No, politics is not politics;
it’s you and me
and how we decide
to live together;

it’s love and hate
and everything in between.

"Politics" and other poems will appear in Lilija Valis' forthcoming book, "Freedom on the Fault Line".