Art by:Fay Collins
Human ignorance
has prevailed
COVID was victorious
it has wiped out
much of human life
years of struggle
and strife
the ones
the “Cove” didn’t get
were wiped out yet
in the plethora of wars
the mask wars
the vax wars
the race wars
the tech wars
the water wars
the food wars
the fuel wars
the no-more-war
wars
like a dumpster fire
after dumpster fire
of unbridled desire
atrocity after atrocity
of brutal ferocity
devastation after devastation
with little hesitation
humans were fools
intolerant
greedy
uncontrolled
fools
mindlessly wielding
devastating tools
ignoring the rules
of nature
their destructive hand
polluted the land
poisoned the seas
destroyed the air
they just didn’t care
they even have the earth
reeling it their wake
making mistake
after mistake
see the barren soil
the brittle dead bushes
the spindly leafless trees
the absence of all plant life
the great mandala turns
the earth burns
all that covers the ground
is a green
moss-like fungi
poinous to humans
if there were any humans
there are not
their remains rot
in grey gnarled piles
spread over miles
no animals remain
gone insane
driven by cupidity
endless fevered stupidity
humans managed
to wipe them away
day after day
‘til everyone of them
gone from the planet
even these hills
once teeming with forests
are frozen
dead
lifeless
sorrowful
they had been warned
over
and over
and over
again
and again
and then…
they blew it
we knew it
this is a portrait
of human arrogance
when we replace them
any alive
we will erase them
the damage they’ve done
will be undone
we will be far
far better stewards
they failed
we will not
when the earth’s toxicity
has finally abated
we will land
and expand
we will terraform earth
back into the paradise
we first encountered
many millennia ago
restore its beauty
restore its worth
we have watched
we are patient
we knew they would
destroy themselves
they couldn’t
just wouldn’t
help themselves
we are the Brin
coming again
this time
we stay
*
rob kistner © 2021
Happy Thanksgiving
Poetry at: dVerse
Read more about The Brin
Heartfelt, hard poetry in the name of humanity, very well done.
Thank you Ain… 🙂 I even included a love song… 😉
Love me some Brin. Maybe you could contact them and have them lend a hand ASAP. This poem is as real as a cut throat. as stark as a naked zebra. It’s a beat down, an ear punch. One can hope you are not prophet or harbinger, just a pissed off poet, tired of crying fire as flames dance on the horizon. Incredible rant.
Thank you Glenn. The Brin are my pocket aliens, but they have their own minds. I’ll talk to them, see if they’ll help — but they are damned disappointed in how we handled things.
Our track record has not been very good as humans. We never quite seem to get it together! Your poem shares this very well.
Thanks Dwight, but I been a bit dark lately. Gonnavtake a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas — I need to recharge my “positive” battery.
A ferocious condemnation that humanity richly deserves, Rob. Let’s hope the Brin will relent and give the remnant a chance. The problem is we never seem to learn from our past mistakes. I love the way you use the empty landscape in the painting to build your prophetic indictment.
Pax,
Dora
I am seeing a dramatically apocalyptic vision lately Dora. Gonna take take a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas — I need to recharge my “positive” battery.
I think the Brin definitely had your ear tonight, and now they speak with your voice, it’s a powerful piece, and the picture is haunting when we think about our future. I liked the list of all the different wars we have going on, the only hope is for the world to unite. Maybe it will click eventually!
I have been seeing much negative lately. Think I need a recharge break Tricia.
That’s a terrible vision of the future. Though some days I think it’s what we deserve.
It is tough, but I think it may be more of realization than a vision Sarah. And like I commented to Ingrid, I think I am going to take a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas — I need to recharge my “positive” battery.
Well, I agree with all the criticism you have levelled at us as a species, Rob. I like how you introduced the idea of a new species arriving from outer space to put things right again, which gave a sci-fi twist to your poem!
I couldn’t ‘not’ see the desolation in Fay’s painting that I chose. It set me off Ingrid, and I think I am going to take a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas — I need to recharge my “positive” battery.
This is such a deeply deeply poignant write, Rob! I especially resonate with; “when the earth’s toxicity has finally abated we will land and expand we will terraform earth back into the paradise we first encountered.” Yes!
I hope when they come, they will let my Grandson stay 🙂
I fear this ending, but I hope not.
Who knows Kerfe, but we have sure fucked things up – environmentally and socially!
This is so stark… and maybe the truth, I think what we call civilization is so very far from civil.
I really hope not Bjorn, but so many are acting like such asses — I wish there were something to wake us all up. You know, like maybe an alien invasion!
We will not! I love the determination of that line, a counter to the preceding failings.
It was the “flip” of possibility and responsibility Paul.