Spin Atomic Goddess, Spin!

For Zoe Ciupitu

A veil breaks away,

revealing sky and space,

supported by this lovely being,

atoms balanced like spinning plates in air,

twirling effortlessly in amused artistry.

I see you walk below that heaven you support,

this mortal world we scramble within,

as lovers, heartful creators,

these depictions of paths universal,

our paths,

our tracks

adapting to unknown topography.

I see you fly towards earth,

     catching yourself with an immense ethic,

        that we shall not be without mistakes—

             that we can grow again:

                  to once again scratch at perfection.

Years will go by and we'll grip onto each other.

A fall.

Years will go by and we'll build each other up.

Ascension.

Supported interests, sewing intersections,

wanting another, 

weaving love eternal,

my strawberry girl.

Hurling the slightest glances at the sky,

knowing that she will always be there,

looming.

A Hot Knife Through our Nation's Retina

Past the optic nerve and into the brain
rests the tired mind of these United States of America.

The world will see us,
in the weight of history,
in the survival of our enlightened ideas:

Non-violence. Intolerance only to intolerance.
Peace. Progress. Trial and error-correction.
The individual over the group. Reason.

A blindfolded teenager sits in the middle of protest and counter-protest.

Choosing only to experience loving-kindness.

A spark, a riot,
a choice, an action.

Our rights,
our objective knowledge,
our convictions and understanding
are built on sand—
a towering bundle of birdlike nests.

To transform that sand into glass,
melting down every bit
that doesn't reach our ever-rising bar.

The sidelines, the couch, the armchair opinion,
the silent majority, the optimists
going to work
to be a part of the ever-expanding puzzle:

to build generations of critical,
creative,
rational,
compassionate
human beings.