October 07, 2024 – A

The things that interest us.
The things that ignite our enthusiasm.
The things we enjoy doing.
The things that are meaningful to us.
Are the things that bring us to life.

Without them we are dead,
just whiling away the hours
until the county coroner makes it official.

I was born into an atmosphere
where everyone was dead,
going through the motions of life,
waiting for the declaration affirming
what had been the case for years.

You may know what it is like
being a baby,
then a child,
among the dead and dying
back in your little town.

If so, you remember the gloom,
astounded into your old age
that no one ever
awakened to the problem
and did something about it.

Why remain forever dead
when it is only a matter
of looking until you find something interesting
and allow it to bring you to life? 

I never heard anyone in my little town
ask a question fresh from the womb
of curiosity and wonder.
Even their questions were dead.

Real questions were forbidden,
for they would have required thinking,
and dead people are beyond thinking,
or caring about anything 
but the announcement freeing them
from the burden of pretending to be alive.