POLITICAL Poem: For Future Generations, by Ivanna Muñoz Meza

They planted trees for “future generations”
beside a factory
that coughs smoke into the same air
those generations will breathe.

They printed posters about unity
in the same building
where meetings decide
which neighborhoods get nothing.

They painted a mural of justice
on the courthouse wall,
so people don’t notice
the cases that never make it inside.

They built a monument for peace
on the same street
where the police broke a boy’s arm.
The ribbon cutting made the news.
The broken arm didn’t.

And they’ll tell the story years from now,
pointing to the trees, the posters, the mural, the
monument; proof, they’ll say,
that they cared.
But no one will remember
the silence that swallowed everything else.
For Future Generations

– Ivanna Muñoz