Lucas Saporito
Medical Student, Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine
You felt the earthquake.
The shake in moral the ground as it radiated around.
Some buildings shook, some buildings swayed
Some buildings fell to their knees and prayed.
But did you feel the aftershocks?
The rock we stand on stressed again and again.
We all knew it was coming,
But then the question was how big and when.
Did it shake you down to your core?
The floor you stand on no longer strong
From years of being cut and chipped away
By chisels hardened with fear and hate.
Or did you sleep through the aftershocks?
Behind lock and key, fell back asleep
With the comfort that your house’s foundation
Was never threatened by the Earth’s vibration.
How might the aftershock reopen scars?
The bars that stopped so many from reaching the top
Appear taller now as buildings crash down
From tremor after tremor in the hollow ground.
But are not some aftershocks manmade?
They bade goodbye to years of oppression.
They cry for this twisted system we live in to fall
And ask everyone, in unison, to answer the call.
Will you feel those aftershocks?
There will be more, so if you choose to ignore
Them you will find that you cannot.
You will feel them. They won’t be for naught.
Nostrum 