The world I want

Last year, as part of my Masters course work, I took a “Poetry, Social Change and Adult Education” course. For two weeks I had to–and got to–write poetry. Though it pushed my comfort zone, admittedly it was fun playing with words and bouncing about in the creative world for a while!

One outcome was the poem below. For me, it was a small journey into how  imagining a new future can be energizing and enlightening. It was also a way of sharing my values and hopes in a non-threatening way. Perhaps instead of a letter-writing campaign, someone should try initiating a poetry-writing campaign and inundate our Yukon politicians with verse! 

I will spend more time exploring the role of imagination and creativity in engaging people in future entries but for now, well, here is my dabbling in imagining a new world; perhaps it will inspire you to imagine bits of a new future you would like to see. Feel free to leave a new verse or two in the comments section (if I can do it, so can you!) Perhaps this could become a never-ending poem!

The World I Want

The world I want will have:
poetry scouts who travel
café to café,
school to school
listening to the bards
the songs
the lines
of love, anger and possibility
seeking poets to read for their team
people who will be talked about on the national news
sign seven figure contracts
awarded big shiny cups
and published in uniquely adorned books
that are given out for free.

The world I want will have:
parliamentarians who wear paisley shirts and make speeches
in rhyme and
ask those temporarily without address
if they would like to have a room in their house,
and dinner at their favourite restaurant;
Cabinet ministers who are required to play a musical instrument as decisions are made
in concert;
Members of parliament who send notes on fuchsia-coloured paper,
punctuated with doodled daisies in place of periods,
to members of the not-so-opposition
asking them to party with their Party
and dance the night away.

The world I want will have:
police officers who carry squirt guns
red, blue, pink and yellow ones
about six inches long;
officers who bring their dogs to work,
be they German Shepherds, French poodles or Mexican Chihuahuas;
cops who drive cars with disco-ball lights that play the ice cream truck song and
who ride bicycles with clothes-pinned playing cards tat-tat-tatting in their spokes;
soldiers who can be found
only in history books.

The world I want will have:
kids in every country and in every language
teaching classes to adults on the secrets of joy and mindfulness;
people in suits lying at the top of green grass hills,
having rolling races to the bottom, then running home to make love
before picking flowers for the dinner table;
men hosting quilting bees to catch up with old friends
while piecing together stories for their children;
women playing hide and seek
downtown
after midnight;
teens taking up free paint brushes and musical instruments,
kept in shelters on every other street corner,
to decorate the town in colour and sound;
elders injecting humour and history into the veins of their families;
entire cities of people turning off the lights at night,
and climbing to the rooftops to lie under layers of quilted love,
resting heads on bellies of neighbours,
exploring the constellations
and the spaces of wonder between.

The world I want will have:
people here, there and everywhere
that giggle with glee when a stranger on the bus (which is free)
tickles them in the ribs;
people who stand on a bench in the market and whistle a little ditty because they feel like it,
and people who whistle back in appreciation;
people who build sandcastles with moats and bridges
and towers ten feet tall
in the middle of Main Street,
and drivers who drive around them (in electric cars),
honking with approval;
people who host potlucks in stadiums
where people who can bring casserole dishes of favourite recipes,
and those who can’t,
are welcomed more;
people who speak in straight lines or circles or dashes and dots, and
all get heard and understood
as not only the ears are tuned in.

The world I want
will want
for nothing.