(Untitled) Because people don't read poetry anymore

 

Damnnnnnnnn!

Haters gonna hate. 

(One-two-one-two.)

But they can't keep me down. No way! 

Here I come; I'm emerging.

And I am powerful.

Some say I play with words like a girl; 

I spin stories like a witch. 

The semicolon, my sword;

The latest injustice, my bitch.

Let me tell you about a thing or two, okay?

Because kids these days, older people too,

I mean no disrespect, but they be losing their

Keys to the great obscurity three.

They be losing their keys

And their imaginations too.

Too early they be forgetting about

All the ways we can play with words, 

All the ways we can spin up math with a 

Beautiful witch, more azure than lapis lazuli,

Seeing further than heretical astronomy,

Running deeper with zigzag cracks, which

Are in our psyche. I'm talking trauma, 

I'm talking real 4-mless clocks,

Melting dreams, famous art, children's stuff, 

Doodles of futures passed, 

Colored-in unicorns hunted in glades,

Hot buttery po’boys that crunch in the shade,

Screams of interminable rage, the women

Unheard in their beds, five, and yet we say

It's all in their heads, six, because we prefer

Sunlight on Sundays, and cocktail parties at night:

Well, good heavens (seven!)

 you think you think before you speak?

Good for you! 

You know how to use big words, you say? 

#metoo

I hear, the Revolution will not be funded, 

And the changes we want to see 

Cannot be bought.

The tech industry EIGHT its disruption, 

and has got indigestion, so

Invest in crypto if you want, ‘cause

 it's chaos right now. (it’s chaos right now.)

Good, well. Wait what was I saying?

Pension plans were a pyramid scheme,

 it’s said: First ones in, first ones out. 

Next gen gonna have to clean up the spills of

Petrol barf and foot the bill for rising water level costs. 

So sickly smart to take the short term benefits;

Leave us with the long term costs. And they

Say the old people are lonely, huh? 

Well, honey, I think we're all burning out.

Time for revenge, man. Time for revenge!

I don't want to see another CEO

Miss his Xmas bonus; 

Shame on him.

Better reform the tax code! 

Become a patriotic millionaire, or

Listen to the newly formed Amazon labor union.

What good is it to retire

With all the money in your account, 

If you've left sons scarred
And local communities sucked dry, 

And still you're afraid 

Of your own shadow. Your daughter 

Will handle it? You've hired an attorney 

To organize a think tank 

To manage the unfolding situation 

Of team spirit stagnation? I don't got time 

For corporate jargon spit. En-

unciate your words and be authentic. 

Be authentic, be authentic…

Who’m I to tell you how to live?

Swah aw-ten-tick. Sois–

Waw, waw, waw wawwww.

You're gonna do what you want anyhow 

– what gives? 

I wish I knew what

Was the root of the problem.

If it ain't money, ain't time, ain't god, ain't right…

Then is it attention? 

Shall we attend

To it? Could it be

Could it be poetry 

Helps us give kids

More attention?

Let’s give kids more attention.

I wanna see the world flourish;

I wanna see it shine.

Though people might be telling me, it's burning.

I wanna see the Phoenix rise.

I wanna see us all become forests,

Abundant

Abundant with symbiotic relationships, diverse in our defense mechanisms, well-rooted in rich soil (rich with good health), strong in our slow growth, a forest that's a home for others, a conduit for money and emotion to flow like water, water become clouds become rain become rivers become ocean become clouds become rain become drops of water on leaves that become clouds again that travel inland and water the villages of the Amazon.

Like an ecosystem of marvels, 

The social impact will see

Dreams come true. 

(What's that I hear? Is that a 

Standing ovation?)

Come on, let's everybody give the kids

A standing ovation.

It's simple, really. Here it is:

If you're tired, get some rest. 

You wanna plant seeds, plant seeds. 

If you want to live out a non-linear career with just the right number of friends and an adventurous life and plenty of creativity and beloved children, then remember we only live once. You too can become a forest if you want (to).

I'm talking madness of blue obsidian,

Calming waves coming in from the ocean

Flowing out from this mad, mad world. 

I see the peace of wild things

(In my mind’s eye), 

And I treasure the beetle, and the wind. 

I hear the wild geese and O, how I 

embrace my desire

To be like the fox.

Taking the path less travelled everytime.

No empty window-heads for me, no sir! 

I will live the questions. 

(You have questions?)

I will go the extra mile and the extra mile into the snowstorm and I will not take shelter like a fool if it means a good story.

George has told me. 

Some stories are better read than written.

I will sail between Scylla and Charybdis,

And snap selfies as I pass through, and 

I will be a sensation, for I will know what it means to do the introspection. I am an inspiration.

I will dance in front of my mirror at night, like the Patterson poet, and I will howl with delight at the American tradition of non-conformists.

Who can stop me?

So authentically fashion-centric, à la mode.

Who can say what is our culture, as humans? 

We are too many to count,

 too many to hold 

in our imaginations. 

I remember a promise I made

 to myself as a youth, as a reader…

I will make of my life a good story.

but now I ask you a question: 

What will you make of yours?

You can write anything. 

It's your turn. 

We all want to read it. 

Make it a good one. 

Hold our attention.

Make it poetry.