I’m not asking why

I’m not asking why

but I’m asking what

now and what next?

 

This is global

a matter of high volume

and limited capacity

 

like how traffic used to be on I-5

or the security lines at the airport

systems have jams and breaking

 

points. So much is broken

cracked, beyond capacity

this now though is liminal time

 

space. Let’s watch as the CO2

curves flatten as the air
and canals

clear. Clarity to organize
and re

 

organize our lives

against the domination

of the capitalist system

 

What we don’t need

cruise ships

frequent flyers

 

elders in contained homes

children in confined
classrooms

my own brother’s job

 

to arrange promotions

for processed and packaged

food. He’s got nothing to do

 

as he works from home.

 

Teachers on the other

hand are re-tooling

learning Zoom and
Screencast-omatic

 

rewriting curriculum to be

relevant for our students’ lives

now in pandemic

 

in isolation and holding

hope in the kids

who aren’t getting sick

 

but will know this time

in memory. Keepers of history

and future. Why, is not

 

a question for me, but What?

 

we need farmers

in the neighborhood

a new kind of learning

 

A knowledge born of solidarity

not of individualism

or identity.

 

re-distribute the wealth

re-imagine the future

re-tool for the new world

 

evolving from the old one.

 

Kathleen Byrd