The Modern World by Colette Phair

The Modern World

They sent your grand children to outer space
Instead of feeding mine
Nebulae, dwarves, and holes with nothing in them
Meant more to Him than blood, tears, and sweatshops
So should it really come as a surprise
That there was no one up there
Waiting in the dark heavens?
No intelligent design, Plan B, get-rich-quick, trickle-down, climb-the-ladder, or make it to the top
Just another Old Wild West,
A cowboys-and-Indians space colony
Atlas scrawled on the back of a losing lottery ticket
That no one ever found
But what you didn't know is that
We danced to the music of our foremothers in costumes we stitched ourselves
That sounded better than late-night commercials telling you to save us
Fit better than a three-piece suit or orange jumper
We worked the earth with our own hands
Kept both feet firmly on the ground
And dug our own way out of hell


                                            
Image - craig Cloutier
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Bio: Colette Phair's latest novel, In Your Shadow, is inspired by the science of epigenetics and tells the story of how political trauma can be passed down through generations.  She is also the author of Nightmare in Silicon and Purgatory and has been published in The Apocalypse Reader, Women's Studies Quarterly, and New Dead Families.  Colette has worked and volunteered for a number of progressive nonprofits and political campaigns.  She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and escapes America whenever possible.

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