Common Threads

Collective self-consciousness,

the well where I draw

old voices and struggles

lie deep in its craw

What’s shared but unstated,

reflexively pawned

to borrow ungiven

the right to what’s wrong

Collective self-consciousness,

polarity’s friend

unspoken meridian

between fact and pretend

To wait in the memory

of what’s yet to come

released by the moment

—humanity won

(The New Room: February, 2022)