Some Call It Destiny ~ poetry by Jeffrey Zable

Well, I guess the skyscrapers need to be there,
they create jobs and jobs create love between people,
and people buy houses or rent apartments and make
places like Walmart vacation destinations, and then
the schools fill with more children and while the parents
are away working or driving around looking for a fix,
the kids are learning about the history of their country,
how the Indians were nice enough to give it all away,
and how so many of the Conquistadores set the stage
for the great prosperity of the white man, only I guess
they were a little tan from walking around in the sun,
checking to make sure there was enough gold in the trunks
to satisfy the kings, queens, presidentes, or whatever those
in power were called, and after they got their take, many
others tried to do the same, and with industrialization things
got even better, at least for some white men who got very rich
by having poor men work 16 hours per day producing stuff
that the general public wanted, but even before that there
was this idea called Manifest Destiny that said whoever
was the smartest, the strongest, and had the most advanced
weaponry was heir to the land, and they also invoked God
to back up this claim, and then everything came into focus
for those who were willing to stay the course and get themselves
with the right people who were maneuvering in such a way
that eventually a small group owned almost everything
and those who didn’t had to do whatever they were told
by those who owned almost everything, and so we have what
we have today, and there isn’t much that most of us can do
except try to accept it, and get a few crumbs for ourselves …

Jeffrey Zable is a teacher and conga drummer who plays Afro Cuban Folkloric music for dance classes and Rumbas around the San Francisco Bay Area. His poetry, fiction, and non-fiction have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines and anthologies. Recent writing in MockingHeart Review, Awkward Mermaid, Ink In Thirds, Third Wednesday, Uppagus, Soft Cartel, After the Pause, Rosette Maleficarum and many others. In 2017 he was nominated for both The Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.

Show Jeffrey some love via PayPal at rumbatumba(at)hotmail(dot)com.