Now: Navigate!

There are tiers, as in levels, to reality On the industrial corner of North 17th Street & Wythe Two black public high school kids watch a Nordic model get photographed To them, she is lunar, impossible, alien life So, as a comet might relate to a traffic-stopped taxicab Or a Bahamas vacation to a stint in Guantanamo Bay So, as access & privilege relate to their absolute opposites That's the way that these kids & this woman will always relate And it's nobody's fault Yeah, no one's to blame We all work through the dark We all carry the weight Slender shoulders & blindfolds Spinning in cycles Now, now, now: navigate! There are tiers, as in layers, to an experience Through each lens & metric, the image warps every day I'm either successful, independent, & largely uncompromised Or a non-starter, never-was, has-been since 2008 And it's nobody's fault Yeah, no one's to blame We all work through the dark We all carry the weight Slender shoulders & blindfolds Spinning in cycles Now, now, now: navigate! There are tears, as in waterworks, and they're threatening To spoil the negotiated sweetness of my afternoon I can't answer anything honestly without an asterisk Airquotes and doublespeak litter the fountain of youth And if it's nobody's fault Then I'm not to blame I just work in the dark I just carry the weight Slender shoulders & blindfolds Stranded in cycles Now, now, now: navigate!