///
“The wasichu (white man) came like locusts from the east with promises not to devour our future. But not one promise was fulfilled. The destiny of the wasichu was to count coup on, then to kill and scalp our destiny.” –Sees Nothing New, a shaman of the Plains Indians
Brave World
Tony HoaglandBut what about the courage
of the cancer cell
that breaks out from the crowd
it has belonged to all its life
…………………………………like a housewife erupting
from her line at the grocery store
because she just can’t stand
the sameness anymore?
…………………………………What about the virus that arrives
in town like a traveler
from somewhere faraway
with suitcases in hand,
…………………………………who only wants a place
to stay, a chance to get ahead
in the land of opportunity,
but who smells bad,
…………………………………talks funny, and reproduces fast?
What about the microbe that
hurls its tiny boat straight
into the rushing metabolic tide,
…………………………………no less cunning and intrepid
than Odysseus; that gambles all
to found a city
on an unknown shore?
…………………………………What about their bill of rights,
their access to a full-scale,
first-class destiny?
their chance to realize
…………………………………maximum potential?-which, sure,
will come at the expense
of someone else, someone
who, from a certain point of view,
…………………………………is a secondary character,
whose weeping is almost
too far off to hear,
…………………………………a noise among the noises
coming from the shadows
of any brave new world.
…………………………………///
