Colin Burk's Website

I failed a career selection exam in Grade Seven,
And though my results came back inconclusive I knew what I wanted. 
Which is why, when recommended to take it again, I politely refused. 
It wasn’t hard for me to picture my future.

I wanted a studio, somewhere where I could leave it a mess of paper
And paints, and canvases and turpentine. Somewhere that my love, 
Could wander in after years of marriage and still scorn me for
My mess.

How could I ask for this though, when 
there is pain and suffering in the world. 
People in as much or more love as me, flee to find safety in countries that 
Hate and scorn them, and nowhere on earth 
Can you find God’s good children and

I wanted to dance and to move my body with simply rhythm 
And melody. To one day choreograph, to
Watch a vision come alive on stage and sit in the audience 
And chat with everyone after the show about how proud I was 
And how “ The dancers really brought the vision to life”
And afterwards I will run to rehearsal with the choir where we will
Harmonize together and create complex dyads and triads 

And someone bombed a marathon in Boston, and a synagogue in Philadelphia 
and I’m sure everyone loved as much as I can or maybe even more so why have
Schools have become staging grounds for the far-right, hate, killing rhetoric for 
Conservative, breeding grounds or target practice for their future Golden Boys

And I want to paint, like my grandfather. When he would sit on the back porch and Smoke a stinky cigar while his grandchildren tried to show him a cannonball into the Pool.
And he would mix colors of purple and yellow and green 
Into the sky and debate 
Rembrandt, and Gogh and Warhol 

And China is enacting a genocide on the Uhygurs because we can’t just be 
And the solution that so many people seem to want is for 
a criminal to take office, and after that a criminal takes office and another one, 
And another one and another one

And I want to write, direct, produce and 
Star in a play, and a musical, and a film, and a Television show 
And I’ll make all the music, and play all the instruments, and sit 
For hours smoking cigarettes in an editing booth, and talk in 
Interviews about how great ‘The Team’ was and how everyone 
‘Just became one big family’

There’s a war in Ukraine I keep 
Forgetting about. And Transgender people keep losing rights and Black people 
Keep getting shot by Fuck-wads with 
Small dicks riding in Dodge Chargers 

And our earth is heating, and there is nowhere you can 
Hide without climate changing everything 
And there’s a new tropical storm everywhere and there’s 
A fire that burned down indigenous culture and there’s 
Bodies being dug up by the people who owned this land

And I want to be like Morrie and dance through life and inspire
Tens, hundreds, thousands of people and even as I lie 
On my death bed I want to only think of my next great work 
And I’ll cut my ear off and I’ll move to Europe and I 
Want to love and be loved and have a family.