Sapiens

Robert Ronnow
The Imaginary i

Sapiens

Reading Yuval Noah Harari’s brief
history of humankind, entertaining
but why care about the past, the dead don’t
live to see it, the singularity.
WWII must have caused anxiety
as do today’s assaults on democracy.
So much noise, or quiet, too quiet, which?
I can’t decide. Nevertheless we make
our own choices, or else. The doors close
but we want out. Look at the books and read
none of the dry words yet we may concede,
observe, realize and accept we lack
data, or skills or tools to interpret data.
Contentment, community, family
and our place in it, trees have a special
winter beauty, not every seed becomes
a flower, power must be challenged by
power and perhaps the universe has
reversed its decision on us. What am I
learning, sitting, watching the seasons turning?

To act and react is itself a fever
akin to the fittest’s survival. In-
significant and mighty happenings,
the selfsame imaginary i, finding
humor in the cholera, two hours
sitting on my arse moaning and yearning,
daily low intensity warfare,
questioning the judgement of earlier
presidents, gods, ghosts, aliens, coaches.
Who’s in authority, who’s in command?
Who can say if all will be given or well?
Really, it’s a perfect day, a new life
begins, things are said, mistakes are made.
A man weeps for himself going forward,
keeping death before him without perjury.
Big Red One, 442nd, SS
Einsatzgruppen, Harlem Hellfighters,
Royal Gurkha Rifles, Screaming Eagles,
82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain.We can't
know what we’ve done until we're forgotten.