I have no adjectives

I have no box

I have no lines on this road

that can hold me in.

I am expansive

Minuscule

a landscape of conflicts

of agreements that don't appear to be

of things unseen.

I am not naive enough

to think you don't understand

that I am the only one

or there are only a select few;

It may not be everyone

just like it never is

but those that came before

left their marks upon us

as we will do to those that come

to meld with their own.

We are community

scattered and scrambling

weak and in ruins

trying to pull back together

through the onslaught

to share our souls

and bare our thoughts

with others who agree or may not

at least, when we come together

there will be blooming explosions

of creative thought and new ideas

pieces of art that reveal truths unspoken

unwitnessed

unnoticed until born

on canvas or paper or notes.

There will be chaos and revolts

love and acceptance

people with beliefs different than their fellows

that may not agree

but there will be thinking

and decisions and action.

We will flex our atrophied muscles

of politics and mind and art.

End our complacency

and live life

Maybe not accepted

Maybe not understood

but life filled with expectations

and struggle

and ghosts of the future

that may be born this night.

We will be vulnerable

and tough.

Foolish and wise.

Everything we were always told

could not exist together

but will if we try

like they tried to convince us

that we could not exist together

that it must be one or the other

Christian or Muslim

Black or White

Freed or slave

because they themselves

could not manage it

it was their failure

but not yet ours.

They try to stifle

what doesn't fit in with their plans

what doesn't go their way

fit their beliefs

their politics

their religions.

Anarchy! They cry

Immoral!

Abomination!

Corruption of our youth!

The end of such and such civilization!

if a civilization could be considered such

when filled with narcissists

and primal instincts

that fight for more,

constantly more.

Fight for beliefs!

Have beliefs!

Stand strong and do not waver!

We have not been beaten yet

and only will if our ranks break

if we try to fight

by ourselves

without our comrades

others who are fighting for something.

Stand and learn!

Think and compare!

Do not be forced into boxes

or become what they say you must.

You are nothing if not your own creation.

In the end

we are idealists.

Foolish and naive enough

to think we can make a difference.

But it is idealism

and naivety that changes the world.

The title comes from a song titled The Blank Generations by Richard Hell and the Voidoids.

This poem came to be when I was talking to friends about how little this generation does when compared to others and how there is so much for us to do but we sit and looka round like it's someone else's job to clean up. But for every person who does nothing there is someone who believes they can change the world with goodness and love.

I hope we can.