Swans in Space Or, How to Build a Better World
By Justin Karcher
I’m driving down Jefferson
looking for a dream
the Sandman of sonnets
because it’s the middle of summer
& I haven’t experienced any magic
too much drama & zero forests
ego bombs exploding & not enough rest
meanwhile
the Buffalo Museum of Science
is aiming its nonprofit flare gun
at the darkening sky
maybe a cry for help
maybe it wants us to pay more attention
to the cosmos
stories about injured swans
who take singing lessons
before becoming astronauts
so that when they’re floating in space
their perfect songs
shatter the emptiness
I want a reimagined world
where wheelchairs
can also be rocket ships
anyway
when I turn onto Northampton
I imagine a foundry of fairies
crashing through my windshield
straight into my face
glitter dust that bruises me
in all the right places
I’ve arrived
Shakespeare
in the parking lot
a place
where diversity is the norm
before the show starts
I’m leaning against my Chevy Cruze
& drinking a Red Bull
I’m sick of their wings
but you gotta take what you can get
everyone deserves the chance to fly
even injured swans
who wanna float in space
maybe this is what it’s all about
anyway
people around me are excited
it’s nice
Shakespeare
in a new kind of light
the Bard is for everyone
& I imagine Shakespeare
not the man
but more like the sky
hanging over us all
wait
not quite the sky
but more like a timeless
enormous iambic pie
because everyone deserves a piece
so we gotta change up the taste any way we can
give those rhymes to the voiceless
that’s where they belong
now listen
to the birth of a brand new dawn
inclusivity is a beautiful thing
it opens our eyes
angelic fishhooks
plunging into our collective mind
pulling out improved eyes
from the bottom of a toxic lake
treasure from the depths
changing the way we see
eventually
we don’t even realize
our old eyes are gone
like new headlights
clearing a path to a better world
where there’s a spellbinding fairytale
in the heart of a city
we thought we knew
but every city
has an endless amount of hearts
we can’t get to the center
with just one
we need them all