New Age

2019
by Su Hwang

Wizened gurus & woke Millennials tout 
The arrival of ‘New Earth’ at the dawn
of Aquarius––air symbolized by water 

bearing light-work. I want so badly to
believe as our planet’s poles list, glaciers
melt & sea levels rise––forcing polar 

bears into arctic villages to dumpster 
dive––that we can survive this iteration. 
Prone to flights of fancy, wondering

how we came to be or what lies beyond 
the void girdled by fire––isn’t logic our 
greatest hurdle? Even award-winning 

scientists can’t deny the pull of celestial 
desire––our soul’s ascension at odds 
with the almighty ego––so can we claim 

it’s mind over matter when it’s more 
mind versus magic? Progress should 
not undo connective tissue binding us 

to the sacred––whether listening
to tides converse with the moon or 
eyeing the impossible elegance of 

rhododendrons, ancient trees, school
of manatees––despite walls we erect, 
poisons spilled into lakes or borders 

we declare by force or dumb luck.
Galactic conversations manifest
as lessons over countless generations, 

the night sky an architectural map to
riddles that can only be solved when we
stop murdering our neighbors & caging 

children in corrugated boxes. Divinity
is all around us––in the sea, the wind,
each & every birdsong––I want to 

believe that human beings are not 
the invasive species heralding the end 
before the next cycle. I want to believe.