I’m going to the other side, Mom.
I’m going to the other side, Dad.
We were born in a cultural divide.

I was born into a cultural divide
with weapons arrayed against me.
All I ever wanted
was to be free.

Freedom. Freeeeeeeeee
DUMB. Drop those bombs.
What does this mean,
to be free? Free to what?
To occupy, to terrorize?
To kill, to loot? Pollute
the Earth so that others,
sons and daughters, from birth,
have to clean up? Birthright?
Bill of Rights? Strange fruit.
Freedom. Freedom.

Chewing the fruit of freedom
takes us further down avenues
surreal avenues where the sun
is hotter here. The climate
has changed. The air is thicker.
Breath comes harder. We drive,
are driven. So little time to breathe
now. We move forward, pressed forward.
The crowd is all around. We are the crowd.
The crowd is driven back.
Nowhere to go in this crowd.
Who do you know
in this crowd?

Do you know yourself?
Do you see a clean mirror?
How are your eyes? Have you had your eyes checked?
How is your insurance? Wait. Have you paid your bills?
Taken your pills? Don’t forget about taxes.
Got to be represented. In that war.
That war, yes, that one, the one
on TV. Is it the same one you remember?
I stopped paying attention.
I had to. I had to take a
mental health day.

Are you overwhelmed
with questions? Breathe.
Somewhere, someone
remembers
how to feel.

The morning is all around us.
It is bright, it is dim. The clouds
part and bring rain. The rain is cold,
it is warm. The rain brings breath
to the Earth. The worms stir,
suckle the dirt. The Earth breathes.

How long have you been here?
Look to the Earth, the deep view.
See it move. Slow.
Slow. Slow down. What now?
Don’t ask. Be. Breathe.

I’m going to the other side, Mom.
I’m going to the other side, Dad.
We were born on the other side.

I was born into the other side
where the walls are graffiti questions
demanding to be heard. I hear
on the other side, it’s brighter
on the other side. Step outside.

We were born into Earth without sides.
This round globe, this ocean with islands.
This deep, round ball orbiting its star
In an ecology of space. Vacuum.
We exist in vacuum.

Breathe.
We breathe. Atmosphere.
See. We see. How much we take
for granted. Thank you,
Mom and Dad,
for granting me life,
for birth. Thank you,
America, for your context
of struggle. I struggle
for you. In you. I am you.
Thank you, Earth, for
a deeper history, an ecology.
Thank you, school, for showing me
all the things I don’t want to be.
Thank you, history, little history,
for mentioning freedom.
Thank you, but it’s time.
It’s time. I have work to do.

Time is history and we are alive.
Alive in history. History is alive.
The foundation of water and stone
and living soil, of bacteria, of worms,
of breathing organisms,
of biology more complex
than I care to study–
Thank you. I am working.