The Story
consider the story as the creator of our power
our ability to weave abstract possibility from the concrete moment,
the emerging coherence of the story unlocks a power
to imagine who we are as true to larger, surer characters,
true to self and plot, our actions have meaning
for we act within the story,
sometimes we find a right way,
sometimes we should despair
when the story we let into us reeks of wrongness,
our stories brought us our gods,
yet Loki came along with Jesus,
Hitler and Trump with Washington and King,
every step forward allows at least an equal movement back,
our species learned how to multiply
and rise to the top of the food chain,
but our species also resists learning the wisdom and love
that should curb our inner Narcissus,
our stories make us who we are,
and we should be careful as to which edition we buy into.
by Henry H. Walker
June 20, ‘19
This poem generated after starting listening to a provocative book:
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
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