the here and now
the here and now
by Patrick Longe
just the vision reggae on brow
uproar among us and you
totally apart what ascertained
hardscrabble heart to humble mind
plea to understand in eyes through bone
Armageddon not to fear walks around
Tough little nugget. Keeps coming back to the eye and its seat in the skull (“just the vision reggae on brow…hardscrabble heart to humble mind…plea to understand in eyes through bone”) perceiving, communicating “uproar among us and you totally apart” with a “humble…plea to understand,” which bypasses (“walks around”) all-out war (“Armageddon”), because it doesn’t fear it, for having chosen (“ascertained”) in “the here and now” the outspoken “plea to understand” is better. Now that we’ve used up most of the words of the poem, we can add: a difficult, long-suffering, and perhaps more lasting, thoughtful, and humane means of revolution for overturning injustice anywhere the world.