Witnesses
Five alarms set twenty minutes apart –
each one dismissed.
The creaks of the old, stained mattress before and after each alarm.
The inevitable snoring I’m still in denial about.
The walls of my home are a pale yellow plaster,
maybe cream, or beige …
probably not cream, now that I think about it,
but definitely not white.
My father telling me to wake up,
in that broken English he worked so hard for but never improved.
My father telling me to open the blinds in my grandmother’s makeshift bedroom.
My father telling me to put her shoes on for her.
The walls of my home have two holes
the size of tennis balls, the size of elbows.
One hides behind a picture frame in the foyer.
The other sits in plain sight, in my brother’s room upstairs.
My grandfather cooking for his wife.
My grandfather yelling at her for not getting out of bed.
My grandfather dropping dishes.
My grandfather exclaiming as he discovers the dishes someone dropped.
The walls of my home have scuff marks
from careless kids,
from my half-blind grandmother’s walker,
from twenty-four years of life.
Chinese soap operas.
Piano music.
The tired arguments or a three-generational household:
two generations of Taiwanese immigrants and one of spoiled American children.
The walls of my home have never been cleaned.
They’ve witnessed EMTs carrying my grandmother after she collapsed.
They’ve witnessed my grandmother coming home from rehab, and never getting better.
They’ve witnessed it all, and their ears ring with the echoes of our mistakes.
If We Burn...
We are flawed.
We make mistakes
And harm those
Around us
Through
Our words
And
Our actions.
We stand apart
And judge others
Without
Fully understanding.
Our world is one
Of blunders
And missteps,
Yet
I think you underestimate
The beauty that comes
Only from a species
As imperfect
As humans.
Look at what we have created:
Art,
Music,
Poetry,
Architecture.
Look at our spectrum of emotion:
Joy,
Wonder,
Sorrow,
Love.
We have a passion
That cannot
Be
Extinguished.
We have a need for survival
That
Will
Not
Die.
I would reconsider
Your intention
Of committing genocide
On our dear
Gaia.
Though divided,
You will be the cause
That unites our world.
You will bury the
Need for independence
In the heart of every
Man,
Woman,
And
Child.
You will witness
The beauty of the
Human spirit
As we fight
For our God-given
Right
To
Live.