another world is possible

in the event that you ever catch me mid gaze- my eyes glossed over; wide open; furiously twitching to and fro with my heart beating out of my chest and a tension so thick you can’t begin to cut it with a knife- stay by my side. stay with me and turn your head slightly toward one shoulder. look around you. and keep your eyes open. god, just keep your eyes open.

i dream in color with my eyes wide open. i dream of a world where we fight for the underdog and the oppressed. where we take arms against indifference and mount counterstrikes against our own apathy. where we follow hard after justice and exchange convenience for consciousness. fuck the airbrushed affluence that is the ideal aesthetic. give me the tired and broken. give me the filthy and forsaken. let me hold up their hands and call them blessed. let me wash their feet. let me feed their bodies. let me hear their stories. let them have their voice.

can you hear their voice? i know that it’s being drowned out by the sounds of that hideous parade in front of us. the one that speaks of empty aspirations and hopeless tomorrows. the one with the caliope whose song fills the air with sweet sounds having no semblance of substance. one by one the performers march down the street in honor of themselves and their purposeless purpose. vendors sell wares that won’t even satisfy the most superficial of cravings. and yet we consume. yet we can not look away.

and we head home to our comforts. to our walls that keep us safe from what’s outside. we head back to the nice part of town. the part where we aren’t confronted with their bodies sprawled out in front of us. where they can’t get in the way of where we’re going. where we don’t have to consider what it will take to get there.

another world is possible. and we’re standing on it. a world where we call things what they are. where we value what will last. where we embrace the temporal nature of everything we thought to be valuable and invest in what matters. if you will call me a friend i will ask you to help me make this world. help me to love. help me to live. join me as we spend our lives chasing after our breaths. help me find the beauty in the broken. help me to call things what they are. help me make heaven a place on earth.