New Worlds

Artist: M-A Murphy

Medium: poem

New Worlds

Dream new worlds.
Dream worlds where there is justice.

Where flowers grow out of cracked pipelines,
Where baby whales survive.

Where people who are locked up are freed.
Where anyone and anything in a cage is freed.

Where there are no cages.

Where there is so much singing
And dancing.

Where healing is encouraged and supported.
Where time isn’t commodified,
And neither are people.

Where land is given back
Where peoples’ needs are met,
Where they can flourish and thrive.

Where children aren’t taken away from their families,
Where voids within us are filled with healing and community.

Where love can be seen
And felt
And heard.

Where kids are taught how to love in school,
Not how to do decimal fractions (unless they really want to).
Where people don’t fake orgasms,
Where it’s safe for me to walk around at night,

Where the status quo is fucked with and dismantled,
Where there are no billionaires.

Where people can sleep in
And dream longer
And hold their lovers.

Where gender roles are abolished
Where weeds grow up through the concrete,
eventually pushing through.

Where no one goes hungry,
No one goes unloved,
No one is illegal, and
No one is left behind.

Where capitalism dies off,
Where we cultivate our inner and outer gardens
And the world sees so much gorgeous beauty.

Not the beauty that is through Instagram filters,
But a deep and real and true, profound beauty

One from the spirit.

Where we can all be who we actually are.
Because our hearts are given time and space.

In order to build the worlds we want, we have to dream and envision them. I dream of a world without borders, extractivism, capitalism, racism, violence – a world beyond structural power and selfishness. I dream of a world of kindness, where people can thrive in their communities and with one another, where love is taught, where softness is honored. Where gardens bloom and so do all people.

About the artist

M-A Murphy is a second-generation Irish settler who completed her Master of Arts in 2020 in the Gender and Social Justice program at the U of A in Amiskwaciwâskahikan on traditional Cree, Blackfoot, Dene, Nakota Sioux, Saulteaux, and Métis Nation territory. She loves building community, organizing, making political art, writing poetry, being gentle and challenging dominant power structures.

Find the artist’s work online here: www.m-amurphy.com, and on IG: @m.amurph