Consumerism

Casey Silkwood

Your searching eyes
Wide open
Seek familiar patterns in the new
Find flaws in the old.
Yearn for improvement upon yesterday.
Close tight and re-open
Aching and weeping with nostalgia.
The great push and pull of life
Crushes us like a vice.
We want all we can’t touch
And scoff at what’s found within reach.
The reinvention and reworking of the self
Is the only reliable refuge
In a world entrenched in a constant state of war.
Loving yourself in all that you are
and all that you do
Is a revolutionary act.
You are the artist
The audience
The light that finds you
The dark that hides you
And the masterpiece
All at once.

Published in Uro Paata, April 2021