BY SHARON MARTIN
Drive less and walk more.
No more wars for oil.
Plant a garden.
Teach a child the joy
of dirt.
Adopt a refugee family.
Making friends is cheaper and more reliable
than building walls.
If we are going to build a wall,
let’s design it to last
and pay the builders a living wage.
Make sure it can be seen
from outer space.
Include great stone steps
to the top of the wall and down.
Add a Starbucks every quarter mile or so.
Advertise it as a tourist attraction.
Fund science – cures, clean cars, real hover boards.
And space travel.
Someone needs to photograph the wall.
Protect public access
to public lands.
Keep water and air safe
to drink and breathe.
Say no to militants and madmen
who would take for themselves
what belongs to all of us.
Educate everyone.
Feed kids healthy foods.
Pass Medicare for All.
Design libraries to be the most exciting building
in the neighborhood.
Don’t leave out poor neighborhoods.
Provide an education
to citizens and guests
in exchange for public service.
Smile at strangers.
Cook meals for the hungry
and the lonely.
Read to a kid.
Coach Little League.
Plant a public orchard.
Stand up for the weak.
Defend the Constitution.
Make music.
Make art.
Make the world a kinder place.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. This poem first appeared in Ain’t Gonna Be Treated This Way: Celebrating Woody Guthrie, edited by Dorothy Alexander. The book is available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
