“world on fire” by Zico
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “world on fire” by Zico.
world on fire
By Zico
Could’ve sworn last night the world stopped turning
but here we are, the sun insists
7AM and the world is burning
all I smell is a faint scent of oud on my wrist
8AM morning coffee unusually bitter
grief on the tongue that sugar can’t fix
I got a lot to do today
says so right here on my list
9AM and the world is burning
my manager wants me to organize some files
Looking at emails, sheets, and docs
visions of bodies being burned reflected in my eyes
11AM and the world is burning
they ask how I’m doing to break the ice
I tell the truth but it gets them on edge
a simple “Fine!” should’ve sufficed
“But we are worried about you… no really!”
“think you might need some time for your own
Cause it seems you may have,
Inappropriately,
brought some of your conscience with you from home”
1PM and the world is burning
I make another cup of coffee for the road
And wonder what butterfly flapped its wings
that I might have a jacket in the cold
Could’ve been born just 200 miles further east
and friends wouldn’t have called me a friend
Wouldn’t stop the world cause it’s burning
or care this cup of coffee’s worth my life ends
2PM and the world is burning
family’s heartbroken but calls me to “tone it down”
Please be careful, know your place
might not get to eat around these parts if you make a sound
Children shouldn’t get shelled, but you must traverse these eggshells
and speak softly son, watch from the crowd
Cause anybody looking like you and loud
will get attention and eventually….
3PM and the world is burning
We are marching the streets
There’s real love here
you can tell from the grief
It’s been _____ days
feels like it all falls on deaf ears
But “Freedom within Reach”
is Knowledge not belief
6PM and the world is burning
She texts me “Are you free?”
Well ain’t that the question
I say “I don’t know but I could sure use the company”
8PM and the world is burning
But these dim lights, the jazz they do soothe the soul
And the warmth of our bodies and the people swaying
do makes us even for a moment
does make us feel momentarily whole, but
Can we dance while we mourn?
Can you laugh while you weep?
Sacred and profane, a blurred line
growing ever so faint and weak.
But who would pass up on a moment of solace?
or dismiss the soothing sound of someone else’s dream?
We talk for hours and hours till we’re reminded
it was always God inside these mortal machines
It’s been a long night and all we wanted was to kiss
then I see a name up on the wall behind her, hard to miss
I ask her who it is
She tells me it’s a martyr
whose memory I chose to honor
And I remember
12 AM and the world is still burning
this superposition is strange
A love poem is still a love poem
if blood spilled all over its page
3AM and the world is burning
like billions I lay awake
I am afraid and full of rage
yet with so much clarity despite the haze
7AM and the world is burning
I’m not up early, I’m up late
Wondering if they kill, the West pays
then how many kids will they have killed today?
Copyright © Zico
Previously published Arc Poetry Magazine.
Zico is a Cairo born and raised hip-hop and spoken word artist. He writes with a sharp, poetic pen from a personal and intimate perspective, hoping his words can create whatever small moments of solace art can offer. His first poetry collection, Reeds: The Ideal Gathering of The Unwell, was released in September 2024 and collects pieces on personal and collective diasporic experiences, calling us in to find comfort and consolation in sharing them with each other.
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