Bold Types 2020 Finalist – Julie McNeill

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Future

 

Of course

I want

all the big things:

Equality

and parity;

a decline in celebrity,

particularly

those ones

who are famous

for being famous

aye those ones..

you know the ones I mean.

 

 

World peace,

and kids

who have enough to eat,

without having to shame

those supposed to lead

with social media feeds.

Free speech

and the right

to a roof over your head

and your own bed

in a place

you can feel safe in.

 

 

Forget flying cars

and trips to Mars

GPS charms

or robots to clean your cars

 

 

I would take holding you in my arms.

never having to look at you through a screen again.

 

 

I’d take

dinner parties;

pubs;

film nights;

Christmas;

dates;

crap dates;

ceilidhs;

even funerals.

 

 

My wish?

My wish is for a future filled

with all the past

I didn’t touch

or feel

or breathe in

in a the way I would’ve done

or should’ve done

if I could’ve seen

the future.

 

 

by Julie McNeill

 

All text appears as provided by the author.