For the I-Hotel
© 2015
the land is not ours
it belongs to none of us
and all of us
it is where we are born
where we live
struggle
die
once we lived on la terra
took shelter in her caves
filled our stomachs
from her bounty
knew that if we didn’t
take care of her
we wouldn’t survive
now we build boxes
this one a hotel, this a mansion
we forget the names
of what grows
in the cracks and empty lots
of our cold cruel cities
but where there is community
these boxes
are more than brick and glass
they breathe with us
and after we are gone remember
our dreams and our despair
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