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The world has become corrupted
from our hearts
to the way our gods love us
as if they know they’re already dying
and they’re determined to drag us down with them
and just like a flagpole in winter
demanding our affection
we’ve stuck our tongues to their ancient religions
leaving us dumbstruck and blinded
by the eye cons of the icons
that have kept us from seizing the truth
but what that truth is I don’t know
I have enough trouble
figuring out
which day is garbage day
after
a statutory holiday
the rules of this world make little sense
every day brings us more reasons
to remain in our caves
feral, angry and abandoned
in a kingdom we feel lost in and abused by
and here’s the thing about a king,
at its best
royalty is novelty
at its worst
it’s oppressive
and our love
must be more impressive
than that
brothers and sisters
the magnificent
gender-bending binary fisters
let’s be moved by the ooh
and wowed by the ahh
let’s bathe in the wonder of the blunder
that created us
the cosmic giggle
that leaves us laughing and asking
what are we doing here?
who’s driving this bus?
I don’t know, and neither do they
who say that they do
so what’s a sacrilegious trickster to do?
why not try on a new shoe to see if it fits?
so, I posit this pickle, I float out
this feather
my friends
let’s not get it
together
you and I, me and we, let’s build
a sacred union of confusion
a family of the flummoxed and flabbergasted
a perpetual party of the puzzled and perplexed
a beautiful band of the befuddled and bemused
blathering a grand and boisterous bafflegab
poets!
wide-eyed, slack-jawed and drooling
slapping our foreheads with vigour
and distinction
let’s not get it
together
this is your permission slip
to be human not horrible
the pressure’s off
we don’t understand
we’ll never figure it out
there’s no need to worry about
whether
you are good enough
for the gods we’ve created
denying our perfections, grasping at flaws
to prove the world right that we’re wrong
let’s go skinny-dipping
in the river of creation
inquisitive salmon asking the most
embarrassing questions
I surrender myself
with awe and devotion
see what happens
when the wheels come off
let’s not get it
together
There's wonder and beauty in the absurd and within our flaws, so let's not get it together
RC Weslowski "Let's Not Get it Together" from My Soft Response to the Wars. Copyright © 2021 by RC Weslowski. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Source: My Soft Response to the Wars (Write Bloody North, 2021)