Wokeness (a Sunday Poem Special)

1

According to the OED, wokeness is

‘the quality of being alert to and concerned about

social injustice and discrimination…’

More and more often I come to a place

in my own sleep where I can’t help

but wake up.

And what’s wrong with waking up?

Isn’t being awake at least part of the point

of being alive?

Perhaps I’m wrong about this, perhaps we’re approaching

the place where we think without language

and use language without thinking.

2

Watching the sun rise a little after 6 a.m.

the eerie yellow spine of it appears as if out of nowhere

over the hills,

I wonder what our language will look and sound like

in 100 years, 50 years, 5 years…

if it will be as stranger to us then as it is now,

an artifact assembled from the mis-used words

of mean little people who have miniature mouths

and fervently insist they must be heard.