tattoos touching

if I could lift the weight of the earth

I'd turn it upside down

and shake out all the hatred

all the bigotry justified by passages in old books

and old men in rocking chairs

who pass broken genes on to grandchildren,

who spit just as much red hatred onto the floor

as their uninformed ancestors once did

if I could change the world

everyone would drop their dirty weapons to the floor

and open their fists

to feel each other's fingertips

and marvel

if I could change the world

I would write the human experience

in permanent marker

on every person's arm

and hope that tattoos

would touch

as arms

join