I’ve been more anxious during the past few days than I’ve been in years. This past week’s weather full of atmospheric rivers and bomb cyclones has been a big factor in this feeling. Rising groundwater, flooding streets and watching footage of favorite places getting slammed by waves has been unsettling (fortunately for us, not literally. I feel for those who’ve been displaced). And while we’re on the topic of feeling unsettled…it’s January 6.
I wrote ‘It Happened Here’ a week or too after the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol… and all but forgot about it (not playing out much in 2021 meant a lot of songs written that year went into a drawer). I started the year with a determination to complete unfinished work, and while this song wasn’t what I was thinking of when I made that determination, and this, an iPhone voice memo, is hardly a finished product, it seems like a time and place to share it.
It Happened Here
Deborah Crooks, Jan. 2021
It happened here, it happened here Before our eyes if it wasn’t so clear Upwelling hate and anarchy To start a fragile new year It happened here It happened here, it happened here Smashed glass and fresh fear Extremism holding guns In Capitol halls democracy went on the run It happened here An angry mob in riot gear A stain on what we hold most dear It happened here, it happened here It can happen here, it can happen here To mend the broken we must persevere Keep our eyes and hearts clear We know what can happen here It’s time to turn the tide Restore a sense of pride It can happen here It can happen here