Survival Kit

I am a millennial woman.

Raised on the promise

that tomorrow

would be brighter.

They told us

to study hard,

to dream wide,

to believe the world

was stretching forward

like open highway.

But I have watched

too many things

collapse.

I remember the smoke

of September 11th attacks

curling across television screens

in classroom corners.

I remember learning

new words too young:

terror alert, lockdown,

active shooter.

Children running from hallways

that should have smelled like

pencil shavings

and cafeteria pizza.

I have watched churches bleed,

movie theaters turn quiet,

grocery stores become crime scenes.

I have watched mothers

bury babies.

I have watched black boys

become hashtags

before they ever had the chance

to become old men.

I have watched armed civilians

and sworn officers

pull the trigger

on bodies that look like

my cousins,

my nephews,

my neighbors.

I have watched the miracle

of Barack Obama

rise like a sunrise

and then watched

the long shadow

of hatred stretch itself

right back across the ground:

overt,

loud,

unashamed.

And now it is 2026.

Instead of dreaming

about cities on Mars

or the sweetness of old age,

I am on Amazon

building a survival kit:

flashlights,

portable chargers,

canned food.

Trying to prepare

for the unthinkable

while pretending

life is still normal.

Trying to gather

pieces of safety

with two-day shipping.

It feels strange

to plan for the end of the world

while still answering emails

and paying rent.

I do not want dominance.

I do not want uniformity.

I just want the world

to behave like a world:

predictable,

because laws mean something;

safe,

because civility matters.

A place where

good and evil

continue their ancient dance

but neither one

burns the whole house down.

There is room here

for everyone.

At least,

there should be.

And tonight,

I sit here quietly

with my shopping cart full of survival gear,

wondering

how we arrived at a future

where hope

and emergency supplies

live in the same drawer.