Poetry: What Matters

Matter

Oh, what is matter?

 

Ask a scientist and they’ll say,

“Everything.”

Spout explanations of atoms

And chemical bonds

 

Breaking everything down into the same pieces

Gives my soul no peace

Humans can’t care about

Everything

 

What makes something

Matter?

 

I suppose

We have to choose

What we care about—

What we think matters

 

But what a horrible freedom

That gives us

To close our eyes

And ignore

The most important moments

Out of fear

Of opening up our hearts

To the horrors of humanity

Once we allow them to matter

 

But what about the greater horror

Of cramming any death

Any crime against our humanity

Into a dark, forgotten corner

Under the label

“Does Not Matter To Me”

Because it did not happen

To you

Or because it happened

A century ago?

 

Remembrance

Does not mean

Sorrow

Any more than it mandates

Celebration

You do not have to let these deaths

Consume your soul

All we ask

Is that you remember

That they matter.