some respect please

for my body

not a woman’s place

to say

what happens

to her

very being

protests in the streets

angry women aren’t pretty

people promoting

violence against

science

some respect please

for whatever I decide

to do

inside

my

body

Our world is broken

Never-ending wars and violence 

Capitals fall while the lucky and privileged flee

Cries of despair imploring: 

“Lord have mercy.”

Our world is sighing

Shaking ground devastating already fragile lives

Recovery not even close to complete before the earth cracks open again

Rising temps and raging fire leading one to believe 

We are actually melting

Our world is sick

Sick with disease that kills the body

Sick with disease that warps the mind

Altogether weakened by arguments and policy built by ego and ambition and privilege

Altogether weakened by the certitude of rightness with never a hint of nuance 

Our world is hurting.... yet it continues to breathe

Our world cries out... yet it continues to turn

Our world is tenacious

Voices speak

Bodies march

The call for humanity and compassion and equality refuse to be silent

They refuse to be silent

Our world is hopeful

Sacrifice becomes the language of caring for our neighbor

Humility becomes the catalyst for hearing our neighbor

We lean in and listen to the stories of the unknown and we see them, truly see them as we look them full in the face. 

Our world is beautiful

Complex and messy

Intricate and lovely

Changing and waiting with broken hearts and hopeful expectation

For better

Infected by superstition like cockroaches we multiply

We’re lost in the battle frozen by what we see

Like parasites we feed negative thoughts we breed

This world suffers in agony and no one here is free

We are alive in this moment until reality sets in

We are fed all the lies until it becomes the truth

But we know deep inside there’s something not right

We will rise to find out what it means to fight for our own lives

Until we do we must change our attitude on life

And love again and know wrong from right

To be the difference in a world that succumbed to peer pressure

We must remember what it means to be better

Contaminated by the hate until humanity is dead

Lost we are wandering in search of a vaccine

Diseased we are spreading engulfed into the flames

We are told not to think for ourselves and follow what’s mainstream

We are alive in this moment until reality sets in

We are fed all the lies until it becomes the truth

But we know deep inside there’s something not right

We will rise to find out what it means to fight for our own lives

Until we do we must change our attitude on life

And love again and know wrong from right

To be the difference in a world that succumbed to peer pressure

We must remember what it means to be better

We know in our hearts what is right

But walking the middle way

Through the dichotomy of life

Is harder than

coal burned to a diamond

Is harder than

unswerving love

Who watches us

While we pretend to see the light of God

Setting fires to the earth

Devouring the land for

confined feeding grounds

Devouring the land for

highways 'round our garden

We're gonna pave it all

In our soulmindlessness

Entrapping others

Diverting them from life's truths

Whilst calamity after calamity

Engulfs the world

Will we awaken in time

To secure a future for our grandchildren

Or do we burn them too

In our gluttony

In our soulmindlessness