Wonderings in isolation

How often does the world come together, 

like this?

It was, that the news would report on conflict

connecting us in shared dehumanization disguised as information

To thank a virus is not absurd

for gems are found in the the most inconvenient places

like boredom in self-isolation

or in line to buy a pomegranate. 

Where the shopkeeper and I smiled big as we air hugged

“Mother earth is taking a breath”,

Her whisper journeyed six feet and landed on my heart in an instant

She held hers with the words

“It’s time we come home” before waving Salut

How can one breathe in life with clogged lungs,

I wondered

inflamed guts, bad blood and a broken heart? 

I paused 

to remember it takes just one sick cell (or thought)

in multiplication

to birth dis-ease, dysfunction and death

The blood vessels of our earthly home are mere mortals

They worked and worked;

harder,

faster 

money, money, money

it made them tired 

angry 

graceless and hotly divided

Sickness tinted our view

in the colour of ignored red flags

Bloodshed

polluted her waters, 

her lungs,

her gifts of creation chopped down

and sold into slavey under a star-less smog of not-enoughness 

An aversion to ourselves lurked behind the latest fast-fashion trend

there’s a universe out there,

didn’t you know?

Of course not, you’ve made no room to dream 

Does genius sprout if time is lost to the obstacles of the mind?

insecurity

entitlement

denial

obsession, and a deadly desire to race to the finish line 

So addicted to avoiding this momentary ride, you find yourself alone,

pissing your power away on stockpiles of toilet tissue 

All the while, there’s a mother out there

caught in a riptide.

Responsible for feeding her babes and making rent.

She didn’t know last week that this week she’d have no job

I hear the dolphins are vacationing in Venice right now

It’s low season, the canals, clear and above, window shutters burst into song.

They know peace and play is found in still waters

In the abundance of her ever-giving cornucopia … that we’ve abused and call home

But you can’t bare being with yourself

Without the mask the system made for you to wear as its actor

Pulling at your blood strings

Milking a profit off of your unrealized potential

As you keep to script in its play

After spending enough time resenting the inevitability of adversity

Perhaps you’ll notice how you’ve bled all over the place

bandaging the pain with netflix and drugs; porn and excuses

Begone with your crutches and befriend the unknown

Because Mama is tired from cleaning up your mess

There’s been much taking, much raping and excess control

Do not, she begs, sanitize your hands clean of this

It’s time to balance the scales and that means holding the fear like a newborn 

while bravely reconnecting to the pulse in our chest

Love is louder together and so we must,

if we’re ever to dance with life in they way we’re intended

know that there is no difference between what we do 

and what happens to us

that each of us is home to the whole