Unseen Truths

Our stomachs shred themselves  
to process over-emotional energy  
 
A congress of educational facilities  
is filled with hidden histories  
and somewhere an adult is surprised  
to learn of certain atrocities  
committed by their own country  
 
Asking why they weren't taught  
the truth of a thing  
before their 50th birthday  
 
Why they were robbed  
of enlightened opportunity
 
Somewhere, a white politician walks  
in a three-piece Lazio and smirks  
shadowed by a news crew  
into a school board room  
to sensor the curriculum  
of our country's youth  
 
Outside questions give rise  
to banned books and unseen truths  
 
Across the street the homeless watch  
the money trail, wise to the ways of the world  
 
Lately, I haven't been able to stomach knowledge  
very well, my system shedding its lining  
of ignorance is anything but graceful  
 
And today, a huge hornet became trapped  
in my kitchen window  
And I, a vegetarian, animal lover and activist  
was too afraid to catch it and set it free  
and too sympathetic to kill it  
though it would've been in mercy  
   
How slow must death be  
for all who beat themselves  
against the sight of hope  
the color of bright blue    
just as those homeless men  
without shoes  
   
To be unable to rise again  
into the American dream  
or freedom of choice
 
All I can do is breathe  
feel the suds in my clenched fists  
and try to swallow a hornet nest  
holding them gently  
in the reality of human fear
and the truth of love  
~