“Suck It Up” by Trevor Witt
Suck it up.
So you are twenty seven years old,
With a college degree,
And a couple years of work experience.
What does that make you?
Special?
Suck it up.
You think that the world was made for you?
Do you think the world owes you anything?
What have you done for the world?
Are you G-d? Are you the Higgs-boson particle?
Suck it up.
So you are intelligent.
Does that mean you should not have to work hard?
So you work hard.
Does that mean that everything should be yours?
So it is not fair.
Who told you life would be fair?
Suck it up.
If you have to,
Scrub toilets,
Mop floors,
Lay bricks.
Suck it up
Says the one sitting
In the driver’s seat
On top of the mountain
On the sidelines
On the couch
Watching television.
If wealth redistribution is the only way
To address inequality today
Because home prices are inflated
And credit card and student debt rises unabated
Then let the record reflect that it was you who stated
Suck it up.
“Radical, Revolutionary Love” by Trevor Witt
Radical, revolutionary,
Love,
Has never been tried before,
Not in the context of war.
No one dares to see the enemy’s face,
The only desire is to make them vanish without a trace.
Radical, revolutionary,
Love,
Sounds like a dream of the naive,
But only that dream can save us from ourselves.
Pain blinds us all,
It builds a mental wall.
Though I can see walls going up all around me,
I can see over them, through them, from up in my tree.
When you see only the enemy,
I see my friend from Arabic class.
When you see a war for self defense,
I ask, “how long will this defensive operation last?”
When you see an Israeli soldier,
I see my friends Idan and Jason with a heavy burden to shoulder.
When you see a Palestinian militant,
I see my friends whose families have lost their homes and lived in tents.
When you see a label,
I see a face, a family, scars and smiles, hopes and dreams.
Radical, revolutionary,
Love,
Tells us prisoners are not so different from you and me,
Criminals because they acted on thoughts we all think.
Radical, revolutionary,
Love,
Challenges us to see the humanity in our enemy.
“Skipping Stones On A Lake” by Trevor Witt
Memories,
Like skipping stones on a lake,
Create so much joy
By making ripples,
Ripples in the water of my mind,
Fading over time,
As their effects are not forgotten,
But diminish as they cross the lake.
Sunny days and sunsets
Spent skipping stones
With you by the lake
Forsake me in the present,
As only the ripples remain.
Walking through the farmers’ markets on Wednesdays,
Visiting you at work at the dry cleaners,
Buying you dinner because you hadn’t eaten all day,
Playing baseball at the park with you and my brother,
Confessing my love for you when drunk at the frat party.
All these ripples fade,
As the lake returns to its placid form.
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