What Can I Do?

WHAT CAN I DO?

 

screaming at the television
does nothing to undo the unthinkable
allowing the poison of his lunacy
to feed the lump in my soul
erodes like acid and serves no good
as for slinking in my seat
while neighbors rail against elitist liberal crap
fake news
protection of our comforts and rights over and against all others’
there has to be another way

because wishing won’t make it otherwise
I listen for a place to invest my angry love
and offer my heart as a collection bin
for the tirades, tweets and reversals
let them sit alongside
the cacophony of bird song that wakes me every morning
and the cry of the loon succumbing to lead laced drink
Syrian mothers’ penetrating stares
and the beatific smile of fathers mesmerized by birth
the terror lodged in communities under siege
and the restorative power of peoples come together

perhaps
if I ask, the earthworms will teach me
how to mix toxins and time
water and waste
air and absurdities
to produce nutrients, fertility and new life

5 comments

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    • Dawn Shippee on June 8, 2017 at 8:44 am

    Alice, this takes my breath away & speaks directly to my soul & my hope. Bless you.

    • Page Rogers on June 8, 2017 at 11:17 am

    Thank you Alice. I needed this today. Much love to you

    • Cathy on June 8, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    You have captured these powerful feelings expertly. Next time you come to our house we will sit and study the worm bin activities!

  1. Many thanks to all of you. Together, we will find our way through.

    • Soozi Crosby on June 17, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    This is EXACTLY what I mean….you have a powerful gift for poetry my dear. Moved to tears, I am.

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