Trying to alchemize the terror of what is happening in my country and around the world with poetry.

I’d love to create a video from a remix….

The Captain Is Mad
by Madam Snowflake

Is every day
a new struggle
against this
terrible fear?

It has returned—
that stone of sorrow

lodged in

my throat.

There is a tyrant

at the helm

of the ship

on which
I am a passenger.

There are no lifeboats

in sight

and no one

is conducting
safety drills

for emergency escape.

Our vessel is

aimed directly

at a shallow bay

filled with jagged

volcanic boulders.

Our captain and his crew

are surely mad.

They’ve managed

to persuade the other

travelers on board

of their
competence,

while the sea

laughs
at
our human absurdity.

No unblinded eye

can deny

the impending

danger.

I feel small,

helpless,

powerless.

The question swirling

in the undercurrent

of my thought
is:

What is my recourse?

Without a door

or exit,

I take

the inverse

position

to this insanity—

meeting brutality

with kindness,

aggression

with

de-escalation,

doom

with

hope.

I will not become

what I oppose.

I call upon

something

greater than

myself.

And with

renewed faith

each morning

I bow,

praying

we somehow

navigate these

troubled waters

and turn our

collective heart

toward

the inextinguishable

light

of the

sun.