“One Two Z” encapsulates a conversation between the generations. It highlights the ways the young can often remind us to remove our blinders and see all the possibilities.
She comes in quietly
Beyond her fourteen years, an equanimity
She pushes her multicolored strands into a high messy bun
She sits, open to new ideas, open to feedback, open to wisdom
But she doesn’t realize, her example contains it
A woman of forty, her low messy bun now gray
looking back and wondering
Why she waited, waited so long
To free her own voice, hear her own song
Her voice was always there, whisper-screaming the words
No, no, no, NO
The ones she never learned to say
The girl wields her pen, her pad, her shining confidence
Brave and bold, she names her emotions, her thoughts, her fears
One, two, three
The darkness only contains stars and dazzling galactic winds
It’s just as bright with the moon
As the day that comes with the sun
Why not see what’s there
She asks
But wait, but wait
What if, what if
So what if,
She smiles, doodling curls and cues with the same fervor
As dragons and flames
Aren’t you scared, she asks, as the girl looks up to the right
Where the ideas are all held tight
No, not really
But what about the pain, the terror of friends turned foes
Armed, dangerous and menacing
Yes, of course
Yes, we are
But we know something your generation does not
What’s that
That we are not alone
We have each other
And with that, if one of us falls,
The others are there, alongside them
To raise up their spirits, living or dead
Their hearts, their art,
We see it all,
It’s easier for us to, than not
I had a voice, within me, but the only ones who saw
Were sitting in ivory towers
With judgmental pens, with “constructive” words meant to tear and shred
Or guns, meant to shoot those dead who spoke words of truth
To those who believed in different gods, different crowns, different books
But is that true? she says, laughing eyes
Weren’t there also the sun, moon and stars?
They were catching every last unspoken word, until the world revolved to see it
Now, with the rain, and your pen, and these zeroes, they’re ready to hear it
To feel it
Let it out, let it out
Share it.
Why not?
See if it might stick
This time
Maybe, maybe
Yes, yes, yes, YES
Okay
We’re all here, waiting to see
Us girls of Generation F
Us women of the future
Of force, fire, freedom
Ready for us? One, Two, Z