POEM: WHAT DOES YOUR LIFE MEAN TO A TREE?

photo by Alex Lear

 

WHAT DOES YOUR LIFE MEAN TO A TREE?

/for Ken Devine paraphrasing Jefferson Airplane

 

1.

why would anybody want to be a picture/a snapshot

of random confusion masquerading 

as a 20th century american citizen

a guest on montel explaining why, contrary to most

males, you masturbate with your left hand

 

we americans watch television more than 

we watch trees or observe the leaves 

shaking in the breeze, it would be hip

to live life like in a movie is what 

some of us actually believe/but dig

life is not something you watch 

from a sitting position with chips & a beer lite

life, like music, is a great goodness

you birth, be godlike & create

 

2.

some one once asked me "what do you do for a living?"

"for a living?" i said "hmmmm, well i

 

dream, write

make love 

create, dream, make love

every chance i get

work, dream

make love, help others do the same 

that's what i do: work, dream

make love 

to live is to dream, to work 

to make..."

you get the picture?

after all life is too hard not to live

once given the opportunity

plus when you step into tomorrow & dance 

before ra's arkestra within the purview 

of eternity, & your steps are cross-examined, an inquisitor

is going to hold up what you did & ask you did you do that

& ask you what good is your life to a tree/cause you know

trees are some hip, hip creatures & their wellbeing

is the ultimate measure of our passing thru

 

& you better be prepared to answer something besides

some shit like "well, i'll be some good ass

fertilizer now that i'm dead..."

—kalamu ya salaam