Tag Archive | shock

It’s Not Lost

American Village

All white men are created equal. It’s Not Lost
In the language of those who came here to conquer
Or to ‘colonize.’ It’s working exactly how
It was written. The document didn’t allow
Any mention of women. They were, as it were,
Nonexistent as people. How much has it cost?

Striking is the stupidity of landing here
Thinking that you’ve reached India. What a mistake.
But no one ever talks about that. It’s okay
To treat the indigenous people in this way.
It’s Not Lost. It is written. Why not come awake
To the truth which is made to all perfectly clear?

Merciless savages are what natives were called.
Black people were seen only as sixty percent
Of a person. So only land-owning white men
Could be called “We The People.” The document, then,
Is a work of irrelevance. It’s only meant
For a certain group. Everyone should be appalled.

Should it shock us that women are still making less
Than their male counterparts? Should we not be surprised
That our prisons are filled with people of color?
Can we not see that the gap between rich and poor
Only grows? What is written, although it’s despised,
Is the foundation of this nation’s wickedness.

Appreciation

Life And Death Are Both Blessings

There’s so much that I live for. It’s easy to say.
Often times I may say it while not feeling whole.
It is by social habit I wear the costume
Of the life-loving specimen who hides much gloom.
Time I have on this earth is for growth of my soul.
Should death come within hours, I’ll have much time to pray.

All my prospects and travels and brief love affairs
I do cherish more strongly when faced with the threat
That within a small march of days all will be gone.
How would I spend that time? Will the song of the swan
Be discordant to deaf ears? Will there be regret?
Or will I in bliss wait for my moving upstairs?

The dear deer in the headlights on one pitch black night
Is frozen in astonishment and total shock
That life may end abruptly. If the driver yields
Then the creature finds newness in grazing its fields.
Reveille from the universe is a hard knock
To quotidian consciousness, but that’s alright.

If the cataclysm doesn’t happen as planned
I won’t miss all the good things I normally do,
And with consciousness freshened with each living breath,
It is truly a blessing to come close to death –
Close enough to be shaken to a brighter view.
I appreciate living a life that is grand.