Lukewarm
American Culture Poems
Sometimes it seems
Bringing an umbrella
Brings out the sunbeams
That Band-Aids and health insurance
Brings health and longevity
That thinking of the worst
Brings happiness and reassurance
That fire drills and routine air-raid sirens
Will bring eternal salvation
That it will keep us safe on an island
Of “What ifs?” and loaded guns
Feeling on edge and frightened
Why does it seem
That worrying is the only way
To keep good weather
To keep our knees free and clean
To stay out of harm’s way
To dim the lightning
Mute the thunder
To be our only preventive measure
To guard against the unknown
And stay lukewarm forever
As if our only hope
Is a protective shard
Deflating cheerful naïveté
Of balloons trying to touch the sun
Hardening their thin, vulnerable skin
Sinking them with a long, slow sigh
Bringing them down from a moment
Where they felt so high
Mighty and invincible
Without a thought crossing their mind
Confident in feeling the sweetness
Savoring the warmth
No such thing as a weakness
Never knowing what could go wrong
And be blindly hit by the storm
In the midst of singing their song
In a world where we wish
To run with shoelaces undone
Wishing for the freedom of oblivion
We care too much for the gift
We’ve been given
To tread in the unknown waters
We swim
Without one watchful eye
Wide open
more by ANNA ELISE
photograph by Rob Bye
