Call the Question
(probably poem-prose)
I’d like the Earth
To like us
I’d like to like us, too
Too much is hard
Around the world
Nature’s parts
The parts we’ve made
And otherwise have taken
I’m still dealing with
Burnt bread
The smell
I didn’t know the microwave
Could burn bread so well
The toaster, yes
Live and learn
That was a mistake
There are things more attributable
To will
Now I’m asking all of us
To think what we have done
And, more importantly, what we
Now might do
Family is trite to say of Earth
Or even us
But community is
Acceptable
The recluse doesn’t
Own the planet
Nor does the self-styled magnate
The deserts are inhabited
Like the city
Different sorts of crowded beings
Finding home
And feeling it
And if we own, then we
Must own,
Which means accountability
We all have a part in
That who can, who is able
How many pebbles, how many
Ponds and circles overlapping
We could make of
Family—I mean, community
Through the smallest things
Each of us might do
Examples?
A pandemic,
Who wears a mask?
Who made it?
I have two masks, both made
By friends
Found out my sister and my nephew
Have been making them
And sending them around
Even ones with designer features
For my niece in Colorado
(they’re in North Carolina
I’m in Pennsylvania)
Easy example, anymore
Factories turned ‘round to retool
Templates, provide resources,
Make more
So that front-liners might
Breathe more easily and think about
The great,
Too often grisly
Work, instead
I can’t sew
But I can cheer them on
Who can
Maybe that will be job,
Cheerleader
And your job is making sandwiches
Or raising money
Or finding stories,
Seeing that they’re shared
Tired of hearing about the disease?
Well, we’re living it
Too bad
And, sorry, not much of a question
No news there
Except to say (and it’s not news
or shouldn’t be) that
Breaks are good
We can have other things,
Of course, and should
Games and walks and making something
Bright
To break the tedium
Or because a lark
Is fine from time to time
as larks are fine to hear
The community needs them all
But being drunk
Or otherwise practicing addiction
Goes down hard
Don’t think of it
There is no excuse
In a viral time
(or any)
Or for hoarding, by the way
Aren’t you sick of it?
Well, hypocrisy is hard as well
I must admit
I have a couple of rolls
Put by
But not a wall-full
Wait, I always have a couple
Of rolls put by
Well, I am a mask
For something else, I’m sure
I’m sure
So where are we?
We’re on Earth
Together, and if together
Has a name, it can be outside
Or humanity
And there are things we need
We can make
And do them
There are patterns that many places
In the Earth (and us)
Can teach
We can learn
We have the chance
If only we can share around
The means
We can make
We can mend
How about it?
C L Couch
Photo by Mike Swigunski on Unsplash
Northern Lights outside of Reykjavik.
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