In the silence before the window shattered,
We were laughing and playing that video game you loved,
Just as I loved you, nephew of mine.
Then we heard someone in the yard.
You looked at me as I got up,
A lioness protecting it’s cub.
Then the window shattered,
And as I fell, I tried to reach for you…
©️by Dan DeMarle 2019
Head out with no cell phone coverage.
The gps of course works
early morning, no cars
the one or two houses are dark
along the side of the road
I strike up a conversation with dead porcupine
He doesn’t say anything
so I run on
On the way back, he has the company of a crow
The crow is eating breakfast
As I run by, I try again to strike up a conversation
The crow thinks I want to steal his breakfast
the porcupine again says nothing.
© words by Daniel DeMarle 2019
It’s funny
I so easily dip my spoon into the sugar bowl,
I so easily buy a candy bar,
I so easily eat some ice-cream,
eating that white gold.
How many black and brown bodies,
suffered, bled, and were killed,
over centuries of slavery,
to produce that white gold?
How many mothers never saw their children,
just so people like me,
could sweeten,
already sweet cereal?
Is it any wonder,
that the white gold,
that killed so many people of color,
is now killing us?
Is it any wonder,
that every time, I tip that spoon,
and that sugar falls,
that I see
a small drop
of
red
© words by Dan DeMarle 2019
To learn more read “The sugar that saturates the American diet has a barbaric history as the ‘white gold’ that fueled slavery.”
Attention – Yoga is cancelled for tonight,
so is bowling, and tai chi, and that funny game with the sticks
we are having a crisis, no an emergency
the coffee machine broke and everyone went out
to get coffee
They found a world, out there
I saw someone take off their shoes and walk in the grass
it was freaky
Some of the men and woman were going topless
they texted they were on a drug called nature
They said they may not be back until next Tuesday
so any way Yoga is definitely cancelled
apparently due to everyone discovering there is an actual
world of trees and grass and savannas
Oh but I’d stay away from the savannas
I heard there were lions,
no, sorry, just lots of small dogs who ran away
they are living in the savannas
Ok, that’s it.
I’m off to go find some coffee,
as soon as I get these shoes off
© words by Dan DeMarle 2019
© image by Dan DeMarle 2019
There are many times I will talk to someone who will tell me that what I am talking about does not happen where they live. They will tell me that their life is easy and that their road is straight and narrow. My either spoken or unspoken answer is that, it does happen here. That if you got off that straight road, which is narrow due to the high walls that you have built or that were built for you, then you could see what is really happening, and then you could make a difference in the world. When you speed through life going 65 on that road with those walls along the shoulder, you miss so, so much. You miss life. You miss your chance to make a difference in it.
© words by Dan DeMarle 2019
© photo by Daniel DeMarle 2018
© photo by Daniel DeMarle 2018
© photo by Daniel DeMarle 2018
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