Visions of the Future

Author's Note: I wrote this poem in 2019 but am dedicating it (a few days late) to Earth Day 2023, and to grandmothers - especially Goldie Wenger Shaw & Marion Lambrichts Jenkins - and grandbabies.

Nations

drowning in cemeteries

             drowning under death

                       coasts eroded by the greed of the departed

                                   even in afterlife

                                                taking more space than they deserve

                                                              ice melted by hubris

Nature's brilliance

              Sun and moon and stars

                         blotted out by so many

                                       skyscrapers neon lights bombs 

                                       plastic reality

Love segregated by chains and walls and bars and cages and myths

              by lands separated by oceans separated by “papers”

Destiny thwarted by Bablyon

                           OR

Earth's blues and browns and greens

             dotted by a million tiny fires

                          centerpoints of a million villages

                                       home to infinite grandmothers nestling grandbabies

                                                     whispering songs of love & peace & wisdom to their ears

                                                                  the gift of Ancestors              preserved

Home for everyone

              No one lost

Sankofa fulfilled

Wake up Zombies

We decide