2015-2016, Poem

The Definition of Community

Featured in the 2016 Spring Issue of Rambunctious

The Definition of Community
Sofia Liaw, '19

We lived in a digital world, 
Intent on googling experience
And asking Siri what it meant to exist
Until sudden extraction from the "world" 
We knew inside a screen.

Zoomed in on Google Earth
To a suburb no one has heard of
Wait the milliseconds
For the images of home to focus.

Transported to a place out of 
Story books and country music, 
Made of indecisive wind
A Home Depot's worth of colors 
Unlike the obligatory artificial happiness 
Manufactured from an everlasting summer 
The truth against what we were told
Block Parties, Ingredient lending,
Mumbled good mornings at the bus stop
Versus self seeking texts,
The absence of compassion, 
And the refusal to speak, 
Everything within minutes... 
Not miles.

A fairy tale setting where it's
Safe to ride bikes on the shoulder of the road.

Set against a demanding world,
Placed in grids and colored in lines,
Here you can sit amidst uneven grass
And passionate air to watch a violent sky
Turn tame and beautiful.