Another Person’s Perspective

A friend/co-worker recently took it upon him/herself to correct my perspective of a certain medical miracle. I’m using vague laguage here in an attempt to not call him/her out directly. I cannot say for certain he/she was the one who was misinformed, but I am fairly confident in my understanding of the issue. Instead of arguing with him/her or attempting to correct him/her, I let him/her find joy in the fact that he/she could correct me, even as I have reason to believe he/she was misinformed. Another person’s perspective cannot define mine. I was confident enough in myown perception of the issue that I could let him/her continue to hold his/her perspective unopposed. Imagine if we could do this on a grander scale. You are a Christian and you are a Muslim and you are an Atheist. And the fact that we see the world differently doesn’t have to inspire us to fight. Perhaps it is a lack of confidence in our own perspectives that inspires fighting. I suppose, if we were truly secure in our own beliefs, it wouldn’t matter what others thought of them.

Trading Water for Poison

And the Aliusterans line up to trade water for poison. And they drink it until it has numbed the pain that living in Aliustera causes. They don’t think to remove the causes of the pain. Life in Aliustera is painful. This is just how it is. They wouldn’t know where to begin. Those few Aliusterans who don’t drink the poison are veiwed as somehow deficient: “Does he have a poison problem?… Why doesn’t he drink the poison?” And drinking the poison may be enjoyable for a time. It helps Aliusterans to temporarily forget their pain. It pacifies, sometimes until the next morning. Like a tourniquet, the poison holds back the pain for some time. Then, as though releasing it all at once, the pain floods the individual’s perception of the world. The Aliusteran’s body rejects the poison, often spewing it with anything that had been consumed during a window surrounding the imbibement of the poison. But it is means to release. The act is means to a sort of temporary vacation during which Aliusterans may feel entitled to act without regard for their responsibilities. The poison works as a scapegoat: “It wasn’t me. It was the poison.” This is the true draw of drinking poison, the social permission to act irresponsibly. This is the real trade for Aliusteran’s water and even the sickness that follows.

I Am I Am

Today I am a marble in a big blue pool.
I am perfectly me. I am perfectly you.
I am perfectly we as we sing together.
I am perfectly always and simply forever.
I am I am
I am I am
Muscle and bone are not my own.
They are just a body that I call home.
And we are lovers. We love together.
We are perfectly always and simply forever.
We are I am
I am I am
In a world blinded by greed and division.
We are exactly where we need to be.
Pain insulated by the television.
They don’t see the power in we.
They are I am
We are I am
I am I am
Today I am a marble in a big blue pool.
I am perfectly me. I am perfectly you.
I am perfectly we as we sing together.
I am perfectly always and simply forever.
I am I am

A Nap After the War

She fits like a missing word in an ancient acronym
We always knew what she looked like, but never understood her beauty
And now that we’ve found her, now that her part is perfectly seen
We were teenagers together and we compare scars
The war is behind us, the machine is dead
Battle wounds that took up residence in our noses are replaced with nectar
The memory of this pain only makes the present taste that much sweeter
Neck tar nectar red bird feather smoke of never we slumber together
Milk on wounds
Familiar dream
Mother of my child
We sleep
The hours of ours
We’ve all the time in the world
Holding her bare form next to mine
Even this is not close enough
Awake for the first time
We revel in our sleep
Eyes open for the first time
We share this warm bed