Today's poem is by Rebecca Morgan Frank

A Wall if a Window
        When in your life have you been able to change the sun?
        In this dorm, you can.—Charles Munger

They have choices: perhaps a ski slope,
a sparkling bay view, a stadium at night?

They will be prepared to live on Mars,
or for solitary confinement.

Why start with freedom?
You must consider the possibilities:

thousands of students filed within
a cabinet contributing to economy.

Walls welcoming fake windows
with no disruptive light or air.

Projection of any desired vista.
Kahn says painters don't

have to answer to gravity.
Access to light is an exception,

but tell that to the trees yards away.
Fungible art is killing the planet.

I sit and type.
I stand and stretch.

I look out at the clouds moving above
the trees in 3D. I crack the windows.

Will the building's inhabitants each
have an ax or a drill, some

way to reach the outer world?
Will ivy stalking up the outside

of the building snake its way in?
Who am I kidding? Someone's job

will be to spray, rip the ivy down, prevent
birds' nests, soiling of the cars.

No sign of life, just a wall
and the performance of windows.

No need to leave your rooms!
Don't worry!

A mausoleum, a columbarium, a moon
colony unit. When I was younger,

I taught children in the forest
who had never seen rain.

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Copyright © 2024 Rebecca Morgan Frank All rights reserved
from Ecotone
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission