Student Publishing Program ::

Stephen X.

The World Is Chaotic

The world is chaotic,
Connected to puppet strings
That the divine being controls.
The farmer and the gangster
Both live through uncertain events.
But how do these chance outcomes unfold?

For every time a face appears on a dice roll,
There are other faces that fail to appear.
Such is the design of the divine being.
Rain in Kansas, drought in Kenya.
Police raid on First Street, not on Third.

The farmer wants to control the weather.
The gangster wants to control the police.
What hope do these people have to control chance?

Everything is in the control of the divine being,
Who haphazardly and apathetically pulls the puppet strings
Connected to the fickle events of the world.
The farmer and the gangster and everyone else,
They would bribe the divine being, if possible.

The farmer picks up his hoe, hoping for rain.
The gangster sells his drugs, hoping for no police.
Which one does the divine being favor?

The divine being controlling the world doesn’t care.
He continues to haphazardly pull the puppet-strings
Like an apathetic drunkard.
The farmer mails a check in a white envelope to Greenpeace.
The gangster passes along some marijuana in a white packet.
The farmer sidesteps a pitch-black cat.
The gangster sleeps through the thirteenth.
These actions mean nothing to the divine being,
Too lazy to give people what they deserve,
And instead he pulls the strings
To give people what they get.

The farmer sees no rain.
The police handcuff the gangster.
The divine being points and laughs.

[BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS, CLASS OF 2008 EDITION]