Two Wars (A Poem)

Two Wars

There's a war going on

In this vast space of nothing

Of fires and kettles

And chasms and you

Not long on your walk

You come by lots of fires, hot

You stay by one

And your kettle begins to boil

But it's boiling over something that doesn't exist

But doesn't it exist?

Isn't it real?

It is

Someplace

Somewhere

But not here

3rd person

Outside view

A present moment

You realize they're not with you

Now don't misunderstand

The fire is real

This I won't argue

But the heat we feel?

That's more our purview

For although they are potent by intent

We need not treat the heat like cement

Lest it pave our way straight to 

The Chasm of Contempt

Where it's hard to fathom

Any bridge could connect

They say, "It's us or them, it's this or that."

Reinforcing this false concept

Of a stark contrast

Now, some heat is good

I feel it's worthwhile

But if frozen or scorching

Please turn the dial

And not all fires are bad, mind you

For some can warm and shine light

But others do just burn and misguide

So take a pail for one

and a torch for the other

But before you throw

Check it's water, not petrol

And before you light

Confirm that its shine isn't not quite right

With these things in mind

I hope we can be pushed

But not shoved

That we can protect our kettle

But not let it settle

-----------------------

All that being said

I can't help but think 

Of a second war going on

This one, in the vast space of something

We're living through a bombardment

That comes from feeding a false need that's constant

We feel we are utilizing

But we are being used

We feel we are consuming

But we are being consumed

The more we feed it

The more it hungers

Becoming a constant buzzing

As loud as thunder

But our minds so use

No noise it seems

Until a quiet moment

And then it screams

We're drowning ourselves

We need time to breathe

We need to disconnect

Time to charge and reset

But the food we feed it

Can't simply be removed

But rather it's the it

That needs to be improved

So don't just stop

Replace

The war can be won this way

Take control.

Be intentional.

Although difficult

The rewards are manifold

I plead we will all try

At the very least, I