"Dispatch from the Ledge" by Blake More
We put our masks on prepared to dance back out
into the murky future ball six feet from each other
fist bumping, keeping our spit to ourselves
spending our tiny pennies in the few shops
allowed to gingerly proffer wares
over the threshold of change we spend hours
gnashing teeth over in Odyssean attempts
to let the government help us help ourselves
We celebrate, gently at first at the idea of being allowed to gather
perhaps dine in a half empty restaurant
toast a friendship in person
visit a grandchild
We are told life is forever changed that we will have to stay away from each other
give up hugs for at least a year smile behind cloth
comprehending an inkling of the burka to save lives, yes to save lives they tell us
which we all so very much want to do sequestering ourselves in homes
for as long as we have them
while others brave necessary cash registers to kick start this lopsided economy
and hold on we do taking heart in regenerating ozone layers
and goats herding over highways gorging on information
until our brains begin to crack
with wild weeds wending their way into novel perspectives scientists, researchers, health warriors on the frontlines of this crisis
offering information counter to official news angles
madly forwarding emails in hopes they will be captured
before disappearing from the public record to protect the sanctity of our minds
as if citizens cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is not
maybe they can’t
but this fact cannot be disputed
our mighty dispensers of free screen entertainment
have acknowledged their collusion with red boxes
with slanted smiles that tell us linked videos violate guidelines
but WHO decides fake news?
People say we will never be China
That Hitler did not exist
That the pharmaceutical companies did not cause the opioid crisis
And now I understand how easy it is to tether oneself to belief
and forsake all else
human’s have been doing it for millennia clubbing each other, dropping bombs,
broadcasting messages, liking posts
that make us feel better about our superior opinions
while the villainous other side does the same thing
the duality river becoming an ocean
with quarantined cruise ships on their respective banks
politicians diving between them
for billionaire scraps like gulls swarming a seine net
But ask a Washington insider with no allegiance to a false flag
and she will tell you the sanctimonious masquerade is losing its fabric
as this B-grade, dystopian sci-fi movie rolls toward its final credits
The real masks are coming off revealing red and blue guises
similar to those history has shown before
Do not be alarmed
the lines taped on the sidewalks cannot stop us from talking
our innocence was lost long ago and finally we are ready to acknowledge it
An expanse is forming
one with no walls
no polarities
a birds’ eye vista witnessing corruption and fortitude
with equal eyes
we are all first in this translucent crystal
of now.
