all that

all that


in consumer-speak it’s an oxymoronic truism that

all one can possess is all that one can buy.


people who believe such nonsense are bereft

of the fullness of love, and believe the more they

own, the more they’ll be in control of their lives,

and satisfied with the regalia of wealth they’ve

bought, regardless of the emptiness inherent in

things, regardless how beautiful or useful they are.


those people believe that the brief life of ownership

isn’t a dream, that it’s all been spread out in front of them

to view and buy. they lust for those things. they hanker to

possess the most unique, the best. they sign their receipts

with flourishes that say, “I’m important, I’m a buyer.”


I hope others exclaim at the magnificence of every purchase

they’ve made. if not, they’ll feel cheated, as though it wasn’t

enough. their pride of ownership could be stolen away if no one

gasps at the big shows of flashy wealth that signal they are at the

pinnacle of personal being that having all that is meant to show.

when lives don't matter

when lives don’t matter


poor lives don’t matter, refugee lives don’t matter,

incarcerated lives don’t matter, soldiers lives don’t matter,

brown people’s lives don’t matter, homeless lives don’t matter,

atheist’s lives don’t matter, old people’s lives don’t matter.


I wonder who has been forgotten, oh yes, now I remember, it’s you.


your life doesn’t matter either unless you care for the lives of the aged,

the lives of nonbelievers, the lives of the dispossessed, the lives of

people of colour, the lives of military combatants, the lives of the

imprisoned, the lives of those who flee danger, the lives of those who

are impoverished.......................................................................... and,

the lives of all those who are less than exactly like.......................you.