Into the night

The air is thick here,

black velvet collecting static,

we are humbled

by technology,

replacing

a human heart

with things we can

repair;

we place beads on a string,

hoping

we don't come to an end,

that the thread won't run out,

we're uncertain

of what the future holds,

blotting out the stars

with industrial lights,

forcing us to look

to human stupidity

to answer our questions,

satisfying our appetite

for ruin;

we die,

leaving a legacy

of disaster,

letting the dawn come

after we're gone

each day darker.

Copyright (C) 2009 Sara LeMaster

1984

I commit thought crime,

driving passion

from a syringe

into the crux

of what I am supposed to be--

fighting materialism

for our downfall,

purchasing time

with my pen,

absorbing the heat

of a city that never sleeps,

for it draws on drugs

for entertainment,

letting the human spirit

die in the gutter;

the persistence of memory

becomes just a painting

as we deny

the reality of our lives,

we have amputated our history,

maiming our fortune

as we slander old age;

our bodies become cancerous,

and then we tie a ribbon around our disease,

pumping dollars

into a corporate machine,

but holding them on our backs,

the value of protest

coming secondary

to the dollar;

we are not free

but ignorant of our chains.

Copyright (C) 2009 Sara LeMaster

A call to youth

A clock ticks by hours,

deciding fate

by the second,

we run on a path

of twisted karma

we thought we threw away,

only to dig up old bones,

pieces of our past

left behind

like miles on a road,

we run on the asphalt,

following

the little white lines,

perforating weakness

with heavy footprints;

we march into the sunrise;

taking our weapons--

our staff of hope,

the spear of light,

fighting off injustice

with wisdom

Copyright (C) 2009 Sara LeMaster

The activist

I am a triangle,

a traveller

bent over an axis

of hope

stuck on a road

toward peace,

the highway of my life

like a snake

coiled around injustice,

choking off apartheid,

digesting hatred

like fate

where we've lost the thread;

I want to cut

the lifespan

of indignity,

to chop off intolerance

like an extra limb,

to leave the body of humanity

bold, naked and enlightened,

no longer mangled

by war,

nourished by peace

free to be

what it is.

Copyright (C) 2009 Sara LeMaster

carpe diem

We put bandages

over our indignity,

selling confidence

like day-old newspapers,

placing the future

in a cardboard box

only to be put

on a shelf

with the wine from our funeral

Copyright (C) 2009 Sara LeMaster