The Sleeper Must Awaken
Wake up! The world around you seethes,
you see social injustice, but not just this,
political upheaval, economic despair.
Repair the bedrock that crumbles under your feet —
and yet you sleep.
I can see our economy once strong
now growing weak, so seek a solution
restitution from the pollution of little minds
behind the problems that we grapple with
tackle it in the press, useless unless
we refuse to accept the precepts given us.
If we discuss, think, analyze, and create
we won’t need to wait until the next time
some talking head obfuscates what’s said.
Tasting Iron
It was snowing that morning I remember
because there was a two-hour delay and I had just reset my alarm
The phone rang and I let the machine get it
her tremulous voice came over the speaker in the other room
8:00
“Call me when you get this
. . . it’s . . . well gimme a call.”
I knew what it was; there was no need to call her back
“You don’t have to come. It might not be . . . could be a false alarm”
When
“Do what you think is best . . . I’ll understand”
Now