SOMETHING LIKE THIS

Something like this

but lacking the poison

and the violence and the scars.

Something with hope,

I think, a clear vision,

maybe some epiphany

that's just waiting to open.

Something like this

In the clear forests and

The meadows and something

like this even in the manufactured

suburbs that are keeping kids safe

And warm despite their

closed door dysfunctions.

Something like this

Where I want to be living

only different, not exactly the same.

Somewhere where the sins are absolved

With impunity

Where friend can be found

Where I desire the proper flesh

Where the sins are absolved

And where I long to drive

beside the cars who blast

their carbon dioxide tunes

through the naked streets of L.A.,

their radios tuned to Top 40 hymns.

Something like this

Very, very similar, in fact,

but not exactly this. Something

nearly like this, yes, but

Without the absence of love.