I wish I could heal each
synaptic shock.

I wish I could stop every
unwanted thought.

I wish I could see sunshine
through the trees.

I wish I could see the sun swim
into the sea.

I wish I could drop a line into
calm, calm water,
catch me a sunfish, and let it go after.

I wish you could feel warmth and
forever laughter,
and the scars to heal
on your wrist.

I wish you never had to suffer
I wish you never had to feel like this.

I wish you no more pain.

I wish it would rain
in California.
No more drought.

I wish your depression heals itself
And that your serotonin levels
balance out.

I wish we never had to watch
a loved one grow, only to watch them one day go.

I wish bullets would
stop piercing kids.

I wish I could take back Newtown and Paris
Boston, and Ferguson,

I wish mental illness was treated
as the epidemic it is.

I wish the world wasn’t divided
by race, by status, by politics.

I wish one day soon we all help
our ocean heal its oily skin.

I wish us all happiness.

I wish everyone who reads this to
create their own
wish list.

And I wish it reads like mine.

I wish the world would realize that
we are running
out of time.

I wish we make these wishes
true.

But for now there is one thing
we all can do, and that is to encourage
our kids to stay in school, to heal the ocean
and make things new.

Encourage kids to write free prose.
Encourage kids to write down poems.
Encourage our kids to seek knowledge.
Encourage our kids to challenge everything.
Encourage our kids to read.
Encourage our kids to think.

Encourage science, and philosophy
Teach the true history.

And to let the poem end
when it needs to end.

 

Jason Wright is the founder and Editor of Oddball Magazine. Today marks this column’s two year anniversary.