When we suffer, it is easy and natural to self-focus, but next time you have an ache, breathe with that ache and take a few extra breaths for those across our earth who are suffering with the same ache. Its amazing. Check it out for yourself. I wrote this poem which reminds me that all is not black or white, all is not us or them. Hope you enjoy it.
Communal Refuse
I am Staten Island’s
Fresh Kills Landfill.
My neighbor is
Ground Zero.
I open up my arms
to universal chaos.
I allow missing people
to rest on the
sides of milk cartons,
al-Qaeda to cinder
with infidels.
I shoulder the ashes of
firefighters,
children,
prayer rugs,
pews.
Steely girders
shine and splinter
across my days.
At night I am eerily
tranquil.
On hot afternoons I reek of death.
God, Allah and Yahweh hold
their breath; then they
permit the clouds to let loose.
Parched blood dissolves
on weakened trusses,
while driving rain fills my bowels.
8:46 disintegrates
through my sieve hands,
its residue is frozen cement.
You ask if I harbor a fingernail,
or a sliver of a
plastic jug,
but you forget,
I don’t query my
citizens.
I only offer them earth
and remain silent.
Communal Refuse
I am Staten Island’s
Fresh Kills Landfill.
My neighbor is
Ground Zero.
I open up my arms
to universal chaos.
I allow missing people
to rest on the
sides of milk cartons,
al-Qaeda to cinder
with infidels.
I shoulder the ashes of
firefighters,
children,
prayer rugs,
pews.
Steely girders
shine and splinter
across my days.
At night I am eerily
tranquil.
On hot afternoons I reek of death.
God, Allah and Yahweh hold
their breath; then they
permit the clouds to let loose.
Parched blood dissolves
on weakened trusses,
while driving rain fills my bowels.
8:46 disintegrates
through my sieve hands,
its residue is frozen cement.
You ask if I harbor a fingernail,
or a sliver of a
plastic jug,
but you forget,
I don’t query my
citizens.
I only offer them earth
and remain silent.
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