for a time, imagined 'acceptance' by society
was the desire
now, some 20 or 25 years later
i realize the fallacy
i see that there is no acceptance by society
there are only mass graves
where the television is the lid to the coffin
there is only mass hysteria
where fanaticism replaces humane connection
i have made a secluded home and sanctuary
in a time of alienation and greed
i have some how survived
by the kindness of strangers
and mostly staying to my own means and ends
quietly following the breath
with pointed attention
or, reading Fanon, devorah major, June Jordan
reading The Dhammapada
and applying it too
my foremost foe has been within the mind itself
the hunger, the desire, the laziness
how to tame these aspects of self?
i suppose we contend
and on any given day, the only difference
between the one who prevails
and the one who succumbs
is consistency
and persistence
i think about how to heal peoples
i think about how to unite the human being
under the banner of humanity, belonging and care and generosity
but i know nothing of how this could be made manifest
all i know is to acknowledge the human
try to have something good to show
try to share something consciously
kindness and generosity are not lost
but we have to stoke their flames every day
we have to practice
there is a whole lot that is coming to an end
there is a whole lot of loss
i don't know what to make of it all
i write my poems, i sing, i dance
bloom in music
and cultivate silence
anything else and it is far beyond me
i dream of prevailing over systems of white supremacy
as a human family, you know?
i dream of leaving money behind
burn it, destroy it, let it go
most of all tho,
you've got to teach yourself
to look into the eyes of another human being
and recognize something worth acknowledging
something of yourself, something marvelous
something you cannot own
something you share with many many many others on this crazy journey of living and dying
