Procreation

what if procreation was actually FOR CREATION?
not just and act of replication
or an accident of copulation

what if we taught our children about their real role
as stewards and deep wild lovers
of the wonders of this earth;
as caregivers who actually give
more than they take;
as dreamers who witness and imagine
for the earth
in a way that makes it groan with pleasure
and beg to create more for us
“oh please, let me create for you one more time
so I can hear your sweet whispers of exquisite love”

instead, we lock our children away
with our fear                      our guilt          our shame
        our perfectionism     our duty          our unimagination
        our boredom             our laziness    our hopelessness
        our disconnection    our pathological consumerism
        our passive acceptance

we provide them with an inheritance of unconsciousness
and a life sentence of servitude
to the very thing that is killing us

this hurts so deep, it takes the breath away

and yet, in their voices, their unclouded eyes
there is something that rings like a freedom bell
a hope
an opportunity
that is both a reminder and a potential all in one

when will we listen to this reminder?
when will our most sacred act of creation
become an act
FOR creation?

it will happen when we befriend death
when we can feel the totality
of our collective pain
and still dance under the stars
with awe and wonder

it will happen when we remember that
true joy comes from doing those
hard but necessary things
that we will never see the effects of
and that may not even be enough
but whose passion to be done
beats in our heart, pants in our breath
and sweats in our palms
when we think of the alternative

it will happen when we stand our ground
and face the beast our generations have created;
when we stop running
and fling ourselves into the lions den;
when as we are pulled apart
flesh, bone, blood, spirit
we realize in true shock and awe
that we are actually making room
for the REAL act of creation

we are making room for real love beyond co-dependence
                                                             beyond independence

a love that is co-creative
a love living deep in the womb of the earth
                      deep in the cave of our heart
                                         waiting to be born



* Original poem by Summer Starr, July 2015