for a generation speaking Jesus and paranoia
in equal breath,
on scale of hope and fear.
Looking at a full glass and thinking
only of its emptiness;
holding ourselves in the present
of touch-screens and text messages -
we don’t see the cars about to hit us
as we walk and talk and
plan the day away;
planning to stay away only
if we can take it all with us
so it won’t grow in our absence
and we miss the chance to ride
the wave of opportunity and
end up paddling through the flat-water
of the world’s settled past.
...Imaging a heaven and explaining our existence
from mountains and caves where miracles took place;
flocking to Paris and headstones of the famous,
trying to capture their spirit
and praying it gives us life;
finding family-comfort in electronic friends -
bonds held together by the language of zero and one.
...Capturing moments in pictures
and calling them life
in a world where smiles stay frozen
and laughter is white noise;
in a world where the soldiers don’t stop for Christmas
to find joy dragging trees in from the forest
to make it feel real,
while pacifying the childrens’ wonder with
cookies and carrots for a man
who sneaks into homes to leave things behind.
...Harbouring the belief that tight circles of exclusivity
can bring the world together;
believing “yes we can”
because it came from the mouth of a black man;
believing that freedom comes
when we take it from others;
believing that bombs seek
while we’re taken aback by what they destroy;
believing that we can prolong life
and ease suffering with machines
that carry the heavy load of breathing
while we pray to the tiles of a floating ceiling
picturing the empty space in our minds
we call the promised land
and the homeless guy in the alley we call an angel.
...Waiting on the world to change while
we practice our dance moves in burning rooms;
playing in the field of our dreams
while trapped in an attic;
preserving the tears of black rain
and shadows burned into concrete
so we are reminded of the scars we can’t erase
and the people we can’t bring back;
constantly pruning the trees to suit our view
instead of changing our view of the trees.
And we’ve done it all in a world
where we attach great hope to discarded pennies;
bestowing upon them magic powers
when dropped into the right water.
