The first time I ever felt like a writer
Was Ms. Duhon's middle school debate class
Pure was her belief in the power of words
So for my first assignment I wanted to impress her
I chose abortion

The night before I scribbled like a poet
And couldn’t believe how powerful-ly I had done it
Argued for the sanctimony of life at all costs
Toward a stable moral rendering of our human ideals
I hated abortion

Life is a visceral experience
That's what I'd tell pre-existence
We don’t consent to be born
And over and over again
Some of us could even feel it

Tonight I feel like a visitor
The 21st century's steam valves wheeze for stability
What is the argument for the sanity of birth?
To life-affirm, shouldn't we have a species to affirm?
What do we affirm?

I visit a land of spartan loneliness
Traumas, suppressions, and impotent hollownesses
We haven't confirmed what we all have in common
To life-affirm, shouldn't we have commonalities first?
What can we confirm?
Life is a sensual experience
That's what I'd tell pre-existence
What is the world we've made
For human fetuses to tumble through
What dignities can heal it?

It’s like how, as a child, in Houston
I used to see cross necklaces
And sense “You’re one of the good ones”
It's like how, as a child, I wanted answers
That’s Y I relied on shortcuts
A reversion to us versus them

In a night of nihilistic crisis
What are the depths of
What we hold up to be “human”?
Wouldn't we all have a say?
Shouldn't we all plan to have a say
Forever and ever?

Life is a harrowing experience
That's what I’d tell pre-existence
We're tumbled into reality with a pat on the back
And with no sense of God's confirmation
We couldn't feel it
It's a sigh, now…
If modernity's foundations
Are built on barbarity
What will anyone remember
About your contribution?

It's a sighing horizon, now…
If humanity's foundations
Are built on suppressed indifference
What will God remember
About your finite attention?

I pray the 22nd century
Is free