The Great Red Spot
Gracing Jupiter's surface
Beautiful and intriguing from the outside
And a whirlwind within

What are we doing as a species?
Where are we going to end up?
When do we decide to look within?
How do we go back to how it was before?
Why did it get to this point?

This male dominated society we live in
There was once coexisting unisex tribes
Goddess worshipping lovers
Plant foraging, wisdom consuming
Harmonious humans

There was a time when everything was a mystery to our ancestors
In this day and age
Before we've been somewhere or seen something
We've seen a picture
Word of mouth has made sure that we're not in doubt
But there was a time that every new horizon
Bought suspense, surprise and uncertainty

A time when we had to work together to survive
Learn how to do things that mattered to stay alive
When exploring our own consciousness wasn't a crime
What are we now?
The majority
Spoon fed junk all our precious lives

We are forgetting that we are primates, cousins of the great apes
We're forgetting our extraordinary circumstances
Alive on a habitable planet
Evolved through processes just learning to explain
In a minute amount of time
A universe the size our minds alone fail to fathom
But I'm going too far
The reality we're supposed to believe in is money and cars!

A man sits diagonally in front of me
to my left in the diner
Over his shoulder, I see
he’s navigating Facebook
on a cheap laptop
Behind him, I’m writing this poem
Every 13 seconds a notification rings
He has a Facebook message
The notifications are messages from a woman
She types heart shapes in place of words
It is the standard online flirtation
that has replaced real relationships
He is quite popular
as he eats toast with purple jelly
and sits alone

People once came to diners
to chain smoke cigarettes
and drink pots of coffee
and think
and talk
and read poetry
We didn’t have much
but we had each other
Now we’re individuals
who sit in silence
alone

Some of us get chat notifications
Some of us write poems
All of us still get the coffee
and the toast
with purple jelly

little dark girl with
kind eyes
when it comes time to
use the knife
I won't flinch and
i won't blame
you,
as I drive along the shore alone
as the palms wave,
the ugly heavy palms,
as the living does not arrive
as the dead do not leave,
i won't blame you,
instead
i will remember the kisses
our lips raw with love
and how you gave me
everything you had
and how I
offered you what was left of
me,
and I will remember your small room
the feel of you
the light in the window
your records
your books
our morning coffee
our noons our nights
our bodies spilled together
sleeping
the tiny flowing currents
immediate and forever
your leg my leg
your arm my arm
your smile and the warmth
of you
who made me laugh
again.
little dark girl with kind eyes
you have no
knife. the knife is
mine and i won't use it
yet.

Wake to the warm.

Wake to memories
of desire.

Sleepy otters stretch.

Birds awake singing questions.

She sighs and sips,
the day before her.

He wonders at her wonder;
so the otters, so the birds.

What are those
memories of desire?

And who is this
bright promise
that sighs and sips,

waking to the warm.

One day, he will know.
  ~mce

the moon that we share
will always outshine the clouds
that separate us.