"Noam Chomsky May Not Be Dead" by Julia Brookes

Noam Chomsky May Not Be Dead

Noam Chomsky may not be dead
yet
I’ve pulled his name from my shelves;
found in the files,
an appearing and disappearing act.

Manufacturing Consent indeed—
the linguist, turned magician, whose words
warrant
a second read,
an investigation,
for how can your books on abuses of power
hold any meaning
when you hope to hide a monster
behind the curtain?

You tell him to just ignore it,
that accusations like this will go away,
a white rabbit in a top hat.
But that hat
doesn’t hide your true face like
it once did. We see you
clearly now.

You dream of the Caribbean island
and secluded New York dinners
with the Allens.
Is that where you are?
Is that where you’ve been hiding?
Give us one more trick;
reveal one last act.

Make me understand
how you fooled me all these years.

Show us all what power really looks like.

---

3/12/2026

Julia Brookes (she/her) is a disabled poet and educator in San Diego, California. Her work often confronts systemic injustice, drawing on lived experiences. She teaches middle school English and Social Studies, empowering students to engage critically with the world. Her work appears in The Skinny Poetry Journal and the San Diego Poetry Annual, and is also forthcoming in Writers Resist.