Skyscraper Roots

To listen to the recording, visit: tinyurl.com/4mz84knw

We speak of pulling up evil by the root,
But it’s not exactly what we mean –

Yes, oppression runs heavy and far,
Parasitic,
But actually, 
It isn’t natural; it’s manmade –

Skyscrapers,
And luxury homes,
Prisons,
And corporate offices,
Military bases,
And border walls,
Need concrete blocks,
Stacked one on top of the other,
The very bottom carrying the heaviest load, and – 

What happens when concrete blocks,
Remember where they come from –

Pulled from the silt of rivers
The hearts of mountains
Mixed with the waters of rain
The grit of the Earth
Recalling that once 
They were soil?

What if they let themselves become?

What happens when they let the rain in
Let the winter freeze make space
For soft crumbling soil in their cracks and fissures
Letting seeds dropped by pigeons 
Take root 
In the feet of skyscrapers?

I believe Trees
Rooted in abandoned parking lots
Are the most radical teachers in the world.