“cold hard marble truth,” by Wei-Wei Lee
November 21, 2019
It’s a mite hard to believe
on nights like this
that, somewhere, I have friends who aren’t dream-deep
and snug in their beds, asleep,
but may be dozing off in lecture
with pens stuttering on notes;
air conditioners humming furious
against the peak afternoon heat.
Harder still to believe, that while they scribble and we dream, here,
that someone our age, young and scared
may be learning battle from their own streets, armed with fury and not much else,
rinsing blood and tear gas
from stinging eyes.
A mite hard to believe, a cold truth we wish not to know, that not everyone may be marveling at
the moon
so perfect and lovely, as I do where I am.
Wei-Wei Lee is Seattle’s 2019/20 Youth Poet Laureate. Performed at Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Literary Arts Series event with Amor Towles at Benaroya Hall on November 12, 2019.