“Politicians propose superficial change.
Even when it´s radical, it´s superficial.
We embrace their policies because we don´t want to go deeper, and face our fear –
because, in actual fact, despite whatever our banners might proclaim,
we don´t really want deep change.”
Sita Kumar, The Journal of Psycho-Politics, December 2023
INTRO
If you turn a tree upside-down
its roots look like branches -
and it dies.
Yes, our feet are on the ground -
but the planet´s turning,
and we´re often upside-down.
My head is spinning
and I wonder if there´s any extreme
about which the opposite
is not also true.
Still, my heart is still
as the autumn leaves fall about me
like broken-off bits of sunshine,
like dry, brown, dead stars -
like the end of an era.
I
I hesitate to make pronouncements -
but I´ve planted trees with roots of fear,
and I´ve eaten their fruits -
and time and again
I´ve then wanted to run and hide.
There are politicans inside each of us whose cleverness could convince birds to swim, and fish to fly... Refuse their scheming reasoning -
the reasoning that makes it OK for fear to decide -
and divide
and rule.
One politican says
"try planting them further apart”,
another says
“try planting them closer together”.
But the fear, like sap, still rises
into our obedient blood -
and into our every fruit.
Which is their intention -
our intention.
II
There is a Fear Tree
inside each of us -
drinking of us,
daily.
Don´t pretend there´s not!
Stop pretending you´ve been fooled
by the politicians who say
“oh, don´t worry about it!”
The politicians who can´t tell a root from a branch -
who dodge the falling leaves,
if they can...
The politicians who´d plant us all equidistantly, in rows, if they could -
to grow old slowly
under the weight
of our own, inedible fruits.
The politicians who, better still, if they could -
would plant us all head-down.
It might be cosy to pretend -
like an ostrich.
It might be a dark relief –
comfortable and quiet -
but it is a cowardly collusion.
Refuse their upside-down logic.
Refuse their state-of-the-art rights and wrongs.
Refuse their spin.
Their planets turn anti-clockwise.
Their sky is foul -
it is full of soil -
and their soil is full of air.
III
The north will never face the south again,
nor up and down look kindly upon each other again,
nor sweetness and light swim in our veins -
until we recognise that:
it is the root that flavours the fruit.
Mark the Mystic Activist, London, New Year 2023/24 www.markthemysticactivist.com Image by MissCarolinaK https://www.deviantart.com/misscarolinak
Will we live our truths more fully in 2024?
Will we feed on our fear?
Or will we trust and dare?
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