I feel so distressed
when I hear someone saying
“Everything or nothing
and there’s no third way”
Why should I limit
one thousand options to two
why should I approximate
until I lose the clue
Why should I label people,
as well as myself
as perfect or awful,
as normal or strange
Why should I replace
a colour picture with black and white
why should I describe the world
in darkness and light
Every conquest is achieved
one step at a time
accepting only “everything or nothing”
won’t earn us a dime
There are infinite shadows
and if we are wise
we’ll welcome Something
and bear no labels in our eyes.
Poem published on Radix, the McGill University Students’ spirituality magazine (https://www.mcgill.ca/morsl/morsl-programs-and-resources/radix-magazine), here: https://www.mcgill.ca/morsl/files/morsl/67._nothing_everything_-_spring_summer_2017.pdf
Alice in the Anthropocene 