Member Poem

I live life,
Not attempting to escape work
or avoid the strife
Not I
For life is work
An accumulation of accomplishments

Tom Sawyer’s philosophy
Constructs my playground,
“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do,
… Play consists of whatever
a body is not obliged to do”
Intellectual growth I endeavor
I wield a pen to produce
Free my creativeness — let loose

I direct the path under my feet
Build my own trails
Blaze down them like a ship
With open sails
To explore new terrains
Opportunities to be gained

Sure, detours often change my path
Shit gets dumped, piles up
But I continue in a forward flow
Never stopped, maybe slowed
When COVID tried to bulldoze life
I crawled in the cab to till the soil
Refreshed, renewed with constant toil
Dug a deep hole to bury strife

Using my massive
Earthmoving machine
I deep-tilled the earth to clear a space
Then packed the ground to build a base
For sprouts to proliferate green
A new foundation from a vaccine

The virus’s flames won’t force me to hide
Or turn away in fever — Not I
What could destroy, I will use as heat
To warm my soul and fuel my passions
That color my world from shades of ashen

Among the sun of day and moon of night
Crawls a creature who causes fright
Stealthily, growling, advancing he moves
A wolf who desires to hear us scream
A disease that wants to devour our dreams
Unaware our defiance daily improves
Challenging science, he doesn’t know
We’ve decided it’s time he goes

We will survive this interruption
Normal life tainted with corruption
Together friends, sisters, and peers
We will emerge with a new wisdom
Because we refuse to be victims
Inspired by knowledge we learned this year

Treat each other with compassion
There’s enough love, no need to ration
Share this planet
(That graciously hosts us)
Without taking life for granted
Close your eyes to feel and see
Working together will set us free