With scant resource
For alternates
My faith is firm
No other course
Now heart resolved
Courage mustered
With just one step
My fears dissolved
The stone marker
A memorial to those who had come
But otherwise left no mark
After the third colony failed
The only visitors would be
Passersby and tourists checking off a box
The place was stocked with beer, though. Lots of it. Their inventory must have been pretty mobile. The bartender just pointed a thumb over his shoulder when I asked for a beer list.
“We’ve got everything in those shelves.”
I counted five rows of 20 cubbyholes each, and every one had a different beer or cider. Maybe one was empty, just for the cliche.
“Impressive.”
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those
Who dislike the crush of a crowd
Who want a fresh coat of paint
Or a breath of fresh air
Nonetheless, they should come
This is not a place for those who believe
That people’s conditions reflect their choices
That there is one right way to live
Or one way to think
Nonetheless, come
This is not the place for them
Because their cherished values
Will be confronted
Every moment of every day
And that is why
You should come
Because this scene is neither
Remarkable nor unusual
It is mundane
Everyday
Most of the world’s people
Your brothers and sisters
Live out their lives
In scenes like this one
Or what you would consider to be
Much much worse
Scenes which appear
Dirty
Unkempt
Dilapidated
But if you don’t come
If you don’t spend quality time
With your human family
In their homes
You may never learn
The true beauty of this scene
And all the people in it
Nonetheless, they deserve better
From those of us
Who assume we have better
Because we are better
In no small measure
We have better
Because we’ve bettered them
But are superior in no other way
Than an accident of natal geography
It’s easier to see that
If you come
So if you are enabled
By conditions of privilege
To travel internationally
Privilege built in part on their poverty
You should come
Themes and thoughts that did emerge
With promise of infinity
Then vanished at a wall
Leaving not a word at all
Instead I wrote this deathly dirge
To writer’s block I fall
Every detail attended to
Clean lines and sturdy grace
All reflected in polished stone
But later
I notice
A chair is missing
Crumbs scattered on a table
In a lifetime dedicated
To observing the nuances
Of all details great and small
I wonder
What is the larger world
All that I’ve seen?
Or all that I’ve seen
But never saw…
Suddenly
The world I know
Seems very small
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the past
Breathe in this moment
Breathe out the future
Breathe in this moment
Every inhaled breath
Overflows the alcove
Expands into every aspect of mind
Every exhaled breath
Empties the mind
Allowing the moment to flow into it
I breathe
Until all that I am
Is this single moment
She shook a little with her distress
Speaking between tightened lips
Just barely containing a primal scream
I don’t mind the old-Earth tenements
Their utilitarian simplicity
But why does every other building
Have to look like the cover
Of an Arthur C. Clarke paperback
Couldn’t we come up with
A more interesting ‘future’
Than one dreamed up by hack illustrators
Over two centuries ago
Jinessa was just getting started
When she goes full rant
You can either cower and exit
Or saddle up and ride it for the eight count
I struggled to get a foot in the stirrup
As her exasperation rose
Oh my gawd
But it feels like someone
Stripped the life out of the colour wheel
I mean I get it
Proxima is not good old Sol
But why does it have to suck
All the juice out of orange
All the indigo out of the sky
All the crimson out of my hair!
She’d wanted the change
As much as I did
Coming here was her idea
It took most of our combined savings
And a serious cut in our lifestyle
To pull it off
Those tenements she mentioned
Were functional and clean
But hardly the standard she’d lived in
All her deeply privileged existence
And why does the atmosphere have to smell
Like fucking plum pudding
What is up with that
Even a hamburger tastes like
A sickeningly sweet yet
Gaggingly pungent holiday desert
Why doesn’t it explain all that
In the brochures
How was it kept out of the news
But life with Jinessa was a bit of a rodeo
Whether it was staged here on Proxima b
Or back on Earth
Truth is I love this most about her
Well not so much the ranting
