Hello, friends!

I heard something really interesting and inspiring on NPR this morning. NPRs poet-in-residence Kwame Alexander recently put out a call for poetry starting with the words “I Dream a World…”. If you have the time, you can listen to the segment here. Naturally, I felt I had to participate in the poetry challenge. Please enjoy these words, and never stop dreaming of a better world.

I Dream a World
by Terah Van Dusen

I dream a world
where our sisters
and brothers across
the globe can feel, can see,
can empathize with one another’s
plights.

I dream a world
not that has no starvation
no famine—no, I dream a
world where, when these things exist,
others can go without, so that
a belly can be full
elsewhere, a life
can be saved,
and cherished.

I dream a world
where when immigrants
come knocking on the door,
folks can envision the horrors
they are escaping.
That we have some
sense of what these families
have seen and witnessed.
That we feel the collective
pain they have endured,
and empathize, as we would
want others to empathize
with our own trials
and traumas.

I dream a world
based on shared resources
not the capitalist society we live in
so clearly benefiting the few,
the one or two,
so brazenly
guilty
and
full
at
the
tip
top
of
our
species.

I dream a world
where woman does not
pack lunch for a man
and man does not
pack lunch for a woman
but they both pack their
lunches for themselves.

I dream a world
where children are more
familiar with flora and fauna,
than Belle and Madonna.

I dream a world
where when one falls,
others do not kick them.

I dream a world
where mothers and fathers
take responsibility for their
offspring…sheltering them
from harm, gore, and neglect.

I dream a world
that cares for its ecosystems
by replenishing them
with buffalo,
and quenching them
by refusing to bottle
city water and then reselling it
to its people labelled
“Mountain Spring.”

I dream a world
where big box store
demolition is a favorite
pastime.

I dream a world
where Native American
culture is restored and revered,
guiding us to walking lighter
on our this shared earth.

I dream a world
that is a collective,
and land that is sacred,
and life that is equally as
valued as the next one.

I dream a world
where we are utilizing all
our senses, sight, sound,
taste, touch to understand
each other, to create harmony
together, in our own little tribes
and families, with a clear understanding
of the challenges facing those less fortunate
in, on the periphery, or outside our own circles.

I dream of a world
where we understand
that every choice
has a butterfly effect.

I dream a world
where less
is more.

I dream a world
where minimalism
is magnified.

I dream a world
(not an earth)
that is ours
for the taking
that is ours
for the making.

I dream of
a better
world.