Scraped Knees

I am ashamed of my race.

White?

Human,

But also yes.

And how we look

For the most flammable things

Thinking

Keeping the world on fire is

Keeping us warm.

Melting our silver in hot spotlights,

Feeding the needy then 

Collecting the forks back.

Influencing without change,

Perpetuating the cycle

Dig, imitate, consume,

discard, bury, steal, dig...

Excavating from nature 

Not wisdom but resource--

But a little wisdom, enough 

To advertise what might heal our scraped knees.

To mimic but not replicate

To borrow but not return

Use but not make reusable.

To extract dyes to color skins,

To paint trophies.

Straining counterfeit treasure

from expendable seas

To pile on plastic hills.

One thing we all have

In common

Earth

We claim dominion to divide,

conquer one another.

Myopic clay dolls.

Flinging dust to dust, 

Our own ashes,

Until we all

Fall down.