What everybody knows

From their crown to their toes

What goes down in government

Gets printed in the federal mint

What everybody knows

Is where the dollar goes

Straight up to the 1% vacuum bags

Shorn and shivering we cling to our rags

What everybody knows

Is black, brown, or red fellows

Might as well not bother

To stand next to the white father

What everybody knows

Is how our misogyny shows

One in three women are victims of abuse

Aw come on boys, there just ain't no excuse

What everybody knows

Is that beyond women's woes

Is the tragedy of the despised feminine

Which has gotten us into the mess we're in

What everybody knows

And everywhere you look it grows

Environment and climate in death throws

From 6 to 1000 species per year is how it goes

What everybody knows

Plastic is with us for all tomorrows

287 chems in the tissue of the new born

If we're smart we'll abandon plastic with scorn

What everybody knows

Though we hate saying so's

We are choking on carbon dioxide

Been swell, but we'll regret the ride

What everybody knows

With heads in the sand we doze

As the chance to have a chance

Slips by as our arrogant ego's dance

What everybody knows

Is the sun's power freely flows

And already provides more jobs today

Than oil, gas, and coal anyway

What everybody knows

And in our hearts it glows

That love is our basic core

That we don't have to war no more

What everybody knows

Is the way the wind blows

That people have the ultimate power

When we stand tall, demagogues cower

What everybody knows

When the right time arose

Not skipping a beat

We all met in the street

What everybody knows

Is corporate capitalism's woes

And with eco-economy

There's good jobs for you and me

What everybody knows

If a simple life we chose

Free to watch our kids grow

To that better world let's go.

Peter Baldwin lives in Brooks