Beautiful Devastation

Here is what I've learned:

all beauty comes from a place of pain,
a place of discomfort
or doubt,
fear
or sadness.

Trace that dance,
that lilting piece of music
that painting
that poem
back far enough,
and you'll find the
troubled spark.

Beauty comes from the cloudy gray
shadows of our lives
for it is against that dim beginning
that our brightest selves shine.

Our soul-locked beauty needs the gentle devastation
of doubt and sadness and grief-
the realization that we are no more
and no less
than flawed flesh and bone.



4.29.2017

Dark, Light, Dark

Life is light and dark
and everything in between.

There are no sides,
no absolute good or absolute evil.

Our superficial intolerance and hatred are
as damaging and unnecessary
as the invisible borders we have long drawn
between each other.

I've come to believe
that if  humans are meant to survive
we will
but not through might.

We will survive through
intelligence
and empathy,
generosity
and humility
compromise
and discussion
using the best of ourselves.

And if humans are not meant to survive?

I, for one, won't be all that  surprised.

The darkness has always been there,
inside us
around us
behind us
and we chose to embrace it
instead of each other.




4/27/2017

Just Another American Day

This was just another American day.

Another American day
under sunny Southern California skies
when a shooter made his way onto
an elementary school campus
with the Second Amendment  in his pocket.

Another American day
blown in with the Chicago breeze
when an Asian doctor
was dragged from self-proclaimed
"friendly skies"
for daring to keep the seat
for which he had paid.

Another American day spent
teasing apart how we can fire missiles
in defense of people
to whom we deny sanctuary.

Another American day
where intolerance, racism, bigotry and assault
are polished rings adorning the  pale fingers
of the powerful, the famous and mistakenly respected.

Just another American day.

How much will this American day
subtract from our future?

What price will we all pay
for our American days?

4/10/2017