Wayne-Daniel Berard

Whom To Listen To

Don’t listen to them.
Listen to these.

Listen to Rachel when
she calls I’m talking directly to
the tiny little you 
who lives inside of you, when
she promises This is coming 
as an answer to your prior request.
This is your active remembering.
Listen to the two Debs who 
implore Kindness, stay kind. This is
important and This same earth…
holds us all in our moments 
of exquisite intimacy. Listen 
to McKenzie who wants to 
Breathe in your sighs
Embrace your agony and kiss your
gloom and to Richard inviting 
us to sip, feed each other, rescue
wayward morsels. Listen as Robbie
remembers that Sometimes we didn’t
have to say anything, we would just sit
together, and Giti that There is lots of
beauty in ordinary things. Listen 
as John McD quotes KMA Who among
us would not willingly forego the light 
of the sun for a lifetime if it meant 
keeping our children safely with us?
Listen to Andy’s Cassandra You
needn't worry, Helen. I prophesize
nothing for you. Nothing to believe in.
Listen to the one with a hyphenated heart
who knows you’re the only person 
who is who their dog thinks they are 
and listen as Rabbi Ken insists
on Wellspring of Salvation available to us
all even to this day.

“In the very end, 
civilizations perish because they listen
to their politicians and not
to their poets.”

            Don’t listen to them.
Listen to us.

 

 

(Quote: Jonas Mekas)