Sometimes you are presented
With countless words
Countless times
And see nothing
Hear nothing
Feel no thing.
Neutrality, inattention, distemper
And so
Contrary to popular belief
You can spend decades
Under the water
Without the lungs knowing
They are part of the mind
Without the hands knowing
They are of the heart
Without the eye knowing
It is infinite.
We live in a time
Where machines know us
Unlike we know ourselves
So know this
No thing cares about you
No thing cares for you
Even as you care for it.
And when you realize that
When the mind wakes up
The disorientation
The sorrow
The smell of the grave
Gives way.
The ship sets sail
With the morning
And in a world fast asleep
You must shout.
WAKE UP
WAKE UP
WAKE UP
It’s better here.
Jeff is a partner at MEA where he committed to writing a poem a day. Commitment became habit, habit became practice and now 18 months into it, poetry is part of Jeff’s daily ritual. Jeff looks forward to the day when ritual might one day become mastery.