The Reckoning

The people have spoken

They are angry

And fearful

Many did not speak

They are angry too

We could blame

Misinformation or profit-driven media

Citizens United and dysregulated capitalism

Fears of women

Or accents, different beliefs, colors, and cultures

Malignant foreign actors or US imperialism

Social media and the failure of the education system

Musk or Trump or McConnell

Corruption or greed

Their anger is justified

Even if misplaced

We have not honored life

Our systems are broken

Tectonic plates shift under our feet

No matter who is tending the garden

The spiritual crisis drags along

Expressed through 

Unimaginative governance

Plunder

Hopelessness

Death and addiction

We wanted stability

To face the crises

To feel safe and secure

But rage and fear do not carefully select 

A best solution

Do not call the angry

Stupid or ignorant

They are not simply 

Choosing a dictator

Manipulated

Or uninformed

We all know Kali

In blazing fire

Roaring wind

Trembling earth

And rushing waters

Reshuffling the elements

Beyond good and evil

She is not reasonable

There is wisdom in millions of people

Pleading for disruption

Even if some may think

They have found their savior

Perhaps we will thank them

For hastening the reckoning

Let us join them in anger

Not at each other

But at what we’ve allowed to continue

Somewhere beneath that anger

Is love and life

Care and hope

Oh there is grief here too

Far deeper

Than one fateful election

It’s knowing who we are

Is not who

we thought we were

This nation was built

On ambitious ideals

But also rebels

Vanquishers and vagabonds

Opportunists and separatists

Were we ever united

When we shook and took

From the land

The native peoples

And looked the other way?

Yet the sacred persists

In a smile

Singing of birds

Gentle breeze

Touch of skin

Fresh fruit

Wag of a tail

The reckoning can bring life

If I stay open to it