Poetry By Chris Butters

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THAT BEAUTIFUL SENTENCE 

the way you no longer 
knock yourself out about tackling 
every  single capitalist injustice,
instead turning 

to other lives, 
being a lover, being a  gardener,
being a runner, being a father 

the struggles are long,
sometimes the  next step lies  elsewhere,

but when the moment to change things  
comes in all its dazzling clarity 
you still seem to know 
what time it is, despite a history 

of uphill battles, throw 
everything you have 
into it, like some  cowgirl  
furiously wrestling her steer  
to the ground,

like that saying you copied
what seems  like a million years ago
on a wall in the depths
of the drug treatment program  

because it struck you 
as  true 
because it struck you 
as  accurate 

because it struck you 
as beautiful 
because it was in accord 
with your heart

give me the serenity 
to accept the things 
I cannot change,
the courage to change

 the things I can ,
and the wisdom, 
the wisdom to know 
the difference

and then,
afterwards,
when you were finished, 

you got up from your chair 
and walked over 
to the park

you  still 
remember 
that beautiful sentence.


​
Chris Butters worked for 30  years as a court reporter in Brooklyn, NY's Criminal Court, but at 17 spent seven months in a mental hospital for drug abuse and anti-social behavior, so he can say he knows the  arguments from  both sides. His poetry has been published in Paterson Literary Review, Chiron Review, Blaze Vox, Main Street Rag, 5AM, Slipstream and Blue Collar Review. He is the past coproducer of WBAI-FM's Arts Express radio show in New York City and a past Poetry Coordinator of NYC's Workers Unite Film.