What We Do

We contemplate the '70s
and reminisce about the ways
of the world before it started
to end. We keep hoping
someone as funny as
John Belushi will finally
appear again so we can
laugh the way we once did.
We shake our heads in
disgust at Young Republicans
who think they understand
the world better than we do--
even though they've yet
to really witness it or
spend a single day
fighting through it.
We wonder if we'll ever
feel hopeful again and
whether or not the love
we always believed was
out there will ever choose
to pass our way. Reminding
us of beauty, pride, and joy.
Jolting us back to consciousness,
back to concern for the good
of the whole. Shaking out
all the self-doubt, and
the questions which persist
about why we never made
a million, or made a name
for ourselves on MTV, or
became some sort of tycoon or
other. Above all, we sit around
in the dark longing for a return
of the innocence that once
emitted from the walls of our
bedrooms and the trees of our
collective forests. We long
for more and wonder more
what. We become more and
less than we ever could have
imagined and begin to live
our lives more deeply
than ever just when we start
to see how quickly they will
end. We demand that our
days have exuded purpose
though we've no idea what
the purpose was. We try and
we fail. We remain and
remain because, frankly,
we just can't think of any place
else to go.

(2007)