changing the narrative in poetry

the stories you tell
are something like spells
they’re the closest that
we have to magic

each word misspelled
in a sentence you tell
can be mistaken in
ways that are tragic

the worlds that you weave
will be believed
as literal by some
some day

those who believe
whatever they weave
even as they deceive
will spun your metaphor
into their pay

all of which is to say:

History isn’t an arrow.
History isn’t a straight line.
It doesn’t work like that.

It wasn’t all that long ago
women in Iran had rights.
In Germany well into the 20s
folks of Jewish descent
were considered their
cultural lights.

History can devolve.
History can die.
Great Roman temples now stand
as a few broken pillars
dotting the sky.

Sometimes history’s a mirage
moreover sometimes
history is just triage.
Sometimes history isn’t
moving forward in great leaps
sometimes history is just
holding back the rot
sometimes history’s just
protecting
the progress that we got
paving the way for future heroes
by holding on
to the concept of tomorrow.

I look out on a crowd of
outcasts one way or another
who realized it doesn’t matter
which ways we are different
just that we’re sisters and brothers
in the breadth of our difference
later on we can work out the rest
through friendly jest and inference.

Immigrants, unbelievers, non-believers
people who express their love in ways
we didn’t have words for
when I was born
but whose ways of loving have been valid
since the first star turned on in the sky.

A crowd of foreigners
in one way or the other
exiles on main street
exiles from mothers
people from the other side of the mountain
even when they are right at home
different wherever they travel
different wherever they roam.

And it’s beautiful.
You are beautiful. You are beautiful and what you are is beautiful.
Oh my God, you are beautiful, you are all so beautiful and don’t even know it.
And I don’t want it to all slip away
I don’t want it gone in a few tomorrows
so here’s what we can do today:

Go out there and do something extra nice
do and say things really good
for the next couple of days
and hope that it’s a spell
hope that it’s a story to tell
that can spread
like a butterfly effect
like the number of angels on a needle’s head
we can hope
the story will spread
we can hope
the goodness will spread
we can hope
people will believe
that story as read
and we can save the world
from the darkness we’re facing down
from clownish monsters and monster-sized clowns.

So I’ll break it all down:

the stories you tell
are something like spells
they’re the closest that
we have to magic

the things that you weave
can disarm those who deceive
and illuminate life’s
precious pageant

the worlds that you weave
will be believed
as literal by some
some day

so take care what you tell
we can make the world well
with the beautiful things
we can say

Last updated November 06, 2016