To tomorrow, together
Hindsight is 20/20
is what we’d been told
when I was growing up.
That we shouldn’t look
backwards seemed to be
the implied suggestion;
that forwards is hopeful,
& to look behind weakness
or silliness, history deemed
to be of little value to us,
more an impediment to progress.
No one said as much aloud,
it was always more a given
than anything proper, surfaces
cleared in passing to be clean.
We demand a presentism that
occludes injustices & structures
to focus on partial individuality,
buying us enough time to hide,
destroy, & eliminate stairs ancestors
used to climb to bedrooms, safely
ensconced in brick buildings.
So let us look back with joy & sorrow
in equal measure, we need the past
as we need tomorrow’s tomorrow
& all the people we’ve lost as well as those
gained in our joy, we celebrate together.
