The Concrete Gates of Hope
An answering poem
This poem is in response to Victoria Stafford’s “The Gates of Hope.”
“What Else Can I Do?” from Encanto; lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
I’m so sick of pretty.
I want something true.
Don’t you?
The gate of hope is underneath a concrete bridge—
its materials: manmade, but forgotten.
It is the stuff that humans
wrought, careless of the consequences—
to the earth, the plants, the people—
and then forgot, moving on to
“build” & “improve”
some other space during
infrastructure week.
The gate of hope is all that stuff, reclaimed
by the ordinary, after
the progressive improvers have gone.
Reclaimed by the ordinary plants (we call them “weeds”)
putting cracks in the structure, compromising its
integrity.
Reclaimed by the ordinary artists (we call them “vandals”),
prophets with cans of truth, spraying
the true story about the builders of the structure.
The ones who didn’t know what they built—
wouldn’t have built it if they had.
Reclaimed by the ordinary dwellers (we call them “homeless”)
reminding us that
the structure that destroyed their homes is
still good for keeping off the rain.
The gate of hope is between
Bethlehem
&
Jerusalem.
The graffiti tells the truth.
And Jesus isn’t where you think he is.
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Remi Shores is an ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a certified data analyst, and the founder of Systems for Ministry — a consulting practice helping churches and ministry organizations with data analytics, AI workflows, grant writing, and operational infrastructure.
