~ exploding Pandemic, escalated racism, failed fascist coup in U.S.~
I gaze forlornly
‘cross pooled hatred
through diseased vert curtain’s fall
at a fractured mirror’s reflection
of a waking nightmare
a glaring hallucination
a pulsing passion play
of a polarized reality
dual worlds
close enough to touch
but too far apart to engage
through which truth
stumbles blind
beyond reach
or reason
or connection with either
walking as wraiths
through fevered empty streets
moving in these worlds
captive to the bone-white lies of both
implicit in their toxic grins
of inflexible conformity
lethal tradition
revered in mindless trance
change
shackled to the stone of fear
with a grip rough as rope
change
bound at the shadowed edge
of dark and light
plague and cure
repression and justice
ignorance and knowledge
change
bruised
disillusioned
but possible
so beckon the dawn
summon the morn
there is far to go
and much to learn
rising from this dark night
someone needs first
release the light
perhaps torchbearers emerge
__________|*|__________
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Intense feelings to a devastating time that you have beautifully expressed here Rob. I love the REM song and of course Amanda Gorman is truly amazing!
Thank you Carrie! For me that was the bleak horror of 2020, but this is the burgeoning hope of 2021
Come on torch bearers! (and NOT tiki torches, tyvm!) The world is light-starved.
Yeas Shay, we need some major torches. May it be the fire of wisdom and honesty!
An epic offering, Rob. You expressed horror, anger, frustration the world is experiencing, ending it with one of the best lines ~ ‘perhaps torchbearers emerge’ ~ I’ve read regarding the pandemic.
Thank you Helen, you are most gracious!
Great poem as a whole, Rob, but this part is my favorite:
“so beckon the dawn
summon the morn
there is far to go
and much to learn
rising from this dark night”
I have faith in our young people. My kids seem so much more informed and willing to act on their knowledge than I was at their age.
REM yes!
Thank you Lisa… 🙂 This world is in need of light — the light of integrity, the light of intelligence, the light of initiative to make this world a better place.
Filled with allusions and excellent contrasts that drive home the point. Good writing, Rob.
Thank you Zander, very much.
“perhaps torchbearers emerge”
Will they lead us into light or walk away on their own? I wish healing upon you — the scars of 2020 to fade away.
Lets hope the chase the darkness that is upon the world Charley — the darkness of ignorance and injustice.
I did like to see the word and section on change. Much needed but what will make it happen? Your drone video was a good pick, but sad to see the streets so empty.
..
The young torchbearers will make it happen Jim, you and I are already damaged — no matter how we might object. But I believe our youth might in fact have a chance to initiate change this world to an important degree.
I like the way it moves from the all-too-justifiable disgust and despair to that possibility we need to remain open to.
Thank you Rosemary, very much.
It is the anniversary of the ‘diseased vert curtain’s fall’, Rob, and although I’ve been stuck inside for most of it, it hasn’t dragged. On the contrary, time has flown, and I still find myself stuck inside, at least for another couple of months. You’ve captured this ‘waking nightmare’ in this epic poem, in which we are ‘close enough to touch but too far apart to engage’. The lines I find most haunting are:
‘walking as wraiths
through fevered empty streets
moving in these worlds
captive to the bone-white lies…’
and
‘shackled to the stone of fear
with a grip rough as rope’.
I am pleased this resonated for you Kim. I too have been virtually locked down, save for 2 highly coddled trips to my doctor over this past 12 months, as well as an essential oral surgery. I took a 4th sojourn out a couple weeks ago, on Feb 12th, for my wife and I to get our first of the two Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations. My next, and 5th extremely careful trip out of the house in this past year, will be March 12th — when we get the 2nd of the necessary 2 Moderna vaccinations. I have high hopes that I will be able to then begin in April, moving safely, but cautiously, for short trips out of our house. I do not know what, if anything, will make me feel safe again for a more normal life of moderate travel. These are trying times, and not what I, or anyone in the world, had ever imagined would have happened, and for me, mark my last few years on earth. I still believe this is the natural world taking revenge on us for the magnitude of thoughtless, arrogant abuse we have inflicted on nature — whether that be a direct or indirect correlation.
I keep telling myself (and writing as if I believed) there’s some tunnel-ending light out there, and I’m only just beginning to think I might be beginning to believe. Needle # 1 done, needle #2 a few weeks away yet (& My Beloved Sandra) about a week and a half behind me, so, um….maybe.
Still, I have to keep reminding myself we’re not the only two worth caring about.
Hunker on, Brother. Better days ahead.
Great write, this one.
Thank you Ron, and congrats to you and Sandra! Like you, I think the light must be out there, at least with regard to science and the pandemic — I must believe that, or have no belief — and I can’t let myself go there. As far as socio-political healing, I just don’t know. I have high hopes for Joe and Kamala, but as fof the Trumpaholics — I just don’t know. I grew up in a household and in a part of the country where racism was ever present, even though on Sunday the priest at mass said nono (after raping the altarboys) — the toxic fallout of passive racism fell upon me as a young person. At 74, and a lingering child of peace & love, I have done my best to try tell myself nono, and actively reinforce that within myself and my family — being chagrinned from time to time, how deeply I had been passively infected, and just how active the struggle must remain to overcome the conditioning. However, this past year has shown that for so many, active racial hatred is alive and a deep sickness. If their children can escape the indoctrination, perhaps racism, active and passive can be overcome. I hope do for it is ugly and highly illogical. That then leaves us with humanity as an active blight upon the planet. Is human gluttony and greed easier to reprogram than human hatred? They are both afliction of arrogance and entitlement, so I just don’t know — but time will tell. I know I personally will never see the final tally on any of this — but I can hope there be torchbearers, for my grandson’s sake. His parent’s are endeavoring to hold and share whatever part of the light they’ve been able to capture and nurture — in spite of my generation, and the generation before me. As long as the discussion concept of social and environmental justice stays alive — hope can stay alive. Amanda Gorman is certainly a bright light.
Wonderful poem–this makes the screen feel more like a chrysalis, something that shows all the paths through which a collective could emerge, either a horror of wasps or a joy of butterflies (not the proper collective nouns); you captured the twitch of possibility and fear really well in this.
Thank you Chrissa. The journey ahead for humans and for the planet, is still an uphill climb. I sincerely hope the climb will continue, and the numerous mountaintops can be reached.
let the healing begin.
lies have been fed too long , and too much. and it is still going on. but there is hope yet.
All one can do is hope, and do shat one can to help that hope flourish.
We all hope for the torchbearer, and pray the hatemongers don’t extinguish his torch.
YES, and we need millions of bearers to pick up their own torches Bev. There is a helluva lot of darkness, and fear of darkness, in this world to overcome — including the issues of separatism and entitlement that religions continue to foster and spread. We need to somehow learn to realize we are one human species, whose eyes, faith, and love need be directed at each other and upon this earth — instead of some magical fount of SOUL-SOMA and salvation, that includes as part of club membership, some kinda afterlife escape route in the heavens. I know fear and insecurity can drive us in that direction, but somehow we need to become truly aware that this is all we have any real proof that we are guaranteed, and we need to be responsible to that fact. It will also add points to your club membership card, if you feel inclined to such belief. It’s a WIN/WIN for you folks, and all of us. Of course, it’s JMHO! Peace & Love all!
Truth from beginning to end. This lines feel particularly powerful:
“change
bruised
disillusioned
but possible”
Powerful and necessary to remember.
Yes, and thank you Magaly, and I am very pleased my words resonate for you in that way. Peace and love to you my friend!
“someone needs first
release the light” – Each one of us, in his her own way! Great stuff.
Thank you Q! Yes, each one of us must shed to thr best of our abilities…
I believe the torchbearers have already emerged. We need to recognise them and applaud them…and listen to them. Only then will our darkness recede.
Thank you teach, and yes, early evidence of torchlight has been observec! 🙂
We lived the hell of 2020 and hopefully are emerging into the hope of 2021. You have so brilliantly expressed our journey.
Thank you Susie… 🙂 …I embrace hope for our tomorrows.
Journey and hope takes us out of 2020. The lower curtain is a lighter green.
Let us most certainly hope Sara!