The land,
this land,
is not a problem to be solved.
It is a matrix,
this mother,
for health.
The great migrations of the day—
from Syria, the South, central Africa—
are symptoms
of a greater dis
location.
It’s not just about resources
and economic opportunity
(or lack thereof).
These are the coasts of a cultural anhedonia—
an inability to find pleasure
and to thrive on the good land.
We have taken all this juice,
all this joy,
(Gerard’s Spring),
and made of it
an ugly thing.
We’ve tacked up boards
on the windows.
Suffocated our homes.
Lined our thoroughfares with loan offices
and convenience stores.
While churches and masonic lodges
decay
into dust.
There is no beauty—no life.
What are opioids but the death spiral of dulled senses?
What are these birds outside my window
but an angel’s appeal
to wake up?
–Alex Joyner
Heartlands 