Just For Today: An Open Invitation. {poetry}
{source}
In the swirling scroll of persistent heat, the thick humid sludge of our nation’s climate drenches me in sweat; a low hanging head of curls wilting at the ugliness splattered across the pages of social media.
Friends turn into enemies. Blocking, unfriending, warring until a wall of Fuck you builds so high, there is no trace or chance of recovery. The divide is now a gape. It’s what the system wants and perpetuates. A slit open gashing bleed of division. And we fall… right into it. Taking our sides with bulging fists and jaws clenched so tight, teeth crack.
No matter how loud people scream, what articles are posted, how blazing raving vein-throbbing adamant we are to change another, we are feeding the mass tumor of our collective doing. My own truth is: no one is going to convince me to vote for anyone other than who I vote for. I am solid in my choice. Be solid in yours.
Be at peace with what you choose in your life without having to ram it down the throats of others, spinning around on a continuum of rage.
It doesn’t work anyway.
It is human nature to be repelled and rebel against the frothing mouths spitting out serrated words from deep inside the throat. Long gone are the days (if there were days like this) of productive communication. To say, Let’s agree to disagree. As cliché as that may sound, it is the heart’s intelligence.
If you are a good person and you are kind to me, it doesn’t matter to me who you vote for as long as you and I can find equanimity between us, the confluence, the space in the in-between.
Just for today
I will curl up inside the space
in the in-between
No flag
No vote
No divide so wide
as to churn love into disdain
Just for today
I belong to
no party
no country
No road that leads to borders
thick yellow lined with neon signs
telling me I cannot pass
through
Just for today, for this instant,
and maybe
for the rest of my life
I will drop the story
of our nation
our collapse
our cavernous gape
between us
salivating fangs of hate and rage
ironically tangled in
this free-flowing flag of
freedom
burning
Just for today
I’ll breathe a little deeper
dip into the swirling pool of
steaming blue possibility
that none of these grave and serious matters
really matter
Not the black-bellied cloud
hanging low and swollen
egocentric heads bobbing on top of
robotic boneless steel bodies
cracking concrete
with their heavy metal feet
Just for today
I belong on this street
Inside this coven
where ocean water swells and recedes and drips
moonlight into slivers
of silver wisdom that drops
all stories
all clashing crashing colliding belief structures
that shackle and breed
disease of mind, heart and sanity
Just for today
I’m painting the sky with its own vast willingness
to stay open, to carry wings,
to reflect in waters that fall
under the earthy curve of embers breathing
the heart wide open
For today.
***
Leslie Caplan is a fiercely courageous heart who has found her way whole through the alchemy of writing. She is a powerful advocate for writers, and uses the depth of her skill and innate abilities to support them going deeper into their stories. A professional editor, writing coach and internationally published writer, Leslie brings it to real with an unwavering passion for honesty & fluidity of voice, heart & content. You can find her at her website.
***
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