or we will become the agents of the apocalypse!
As people live more and more “in the screens” of our myriad electronic devices, and less and less in the realtime, “face to face” world — we find it easier and easier to dismiss each other. Takes only a simple swipe or touch of those screens, or an on/off button. We are becoming more and more 2D “virtual”, and less and less 3D “real”. Even evolving 3D screen devices present a surreality. We are living more and more in a conjured world — in cities of our minds.
This ability to instantaneously dismiss, is a dangerous subconscious dehumanization, and in that, a subtle devaluation of each other, as flesh and blood. We have become more or less electronic entities we can have appear and disappear at whim and will. The onslaught of things to attract us and distract us, driven by internet, cable, and dish, via “24/7 streaming” of significant elements of our reality(s), create fewer and fewer “whole” things in which we are substantively grounded. This makes much of our daily “life” ethereal, temporary, avoidable, deletable, and superficial.
We are bombarded daily by unfounded supposition, opinions, dogmas, and blatant scripted lies; as well as immersive presentations of fantasy realities via movies, TV, grandiose advertisement, and video games. This occurs to such a degree that reality has become fluid — perceived truth has become relative. All of this leads further to dehumanization and devaluation of “real” human life.
We face an incredibly volatile situation, perfect for abandonment of a sense of responsibility for the real world, our earth in which we physically live — hence the acceleration of ecological disasters and burgeoning environmental collapse we are now witnessing. It also makes it much easier, through misinformation and subterfuge, for evil, exploitive agendas to take root. Agendas that can develop into very serious real world social exploitation — hence, the growing Trump nightmare, and its related trappings, as well as the other demagogs and dogmas that have begun sprouting forth in society. But wait, where are we now? These are tense, dangerous, and potentially explosive times in which we live. Ours has become an ever more fragile world.
reality’s now fluid
life is untethered
when we begin to believe
we have risen to favor
and privilege
above the humble
bloody afterbirth
of our origin
when in our reflection
we see perverse transcendence
towards entitlement
in which no allegiance
or kinship to nature
binds us to our center
when our insanity
of magnified human arrogance
so distorts our vision
of the sacred ancient balance
so twists our vision
of our place in
or our inherent responsibility
to protect
the bone-broken reality
of the natural order
when we blatantly begin
to eat our own
while copulating
with false gods
on forsaken gilded altars
of rampant greed
and planetary neglect
celebrating utter disregard
for the sanctity of life
all life
then the hour of extinction
is certainly at hand
and we’ve all become
the hulking mass
of the apocalypse
deserving to be struck down
by the self-inflicted rapier
of raw wild justice
yes we do
yes we definitely do
but wait
before that
I want to be a rocketman
I want to explore the universe
soar off into outer space
way up with the stars and planets
far from this slowly dying place
until then — let’s take a leisure drive
stick our heads out of the windows
wow – those beautiful butterflies
think they know which way the wind blows
we are rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
not certain where we’re goin’
I lost my pearly guitar pic
it’s been missin’ now for hours
I found my favorite baseball mitt
in a field full of wild flowers
but wait, acres of virgin rain forest
more than 200,000 everyday
what d’fuck is it we’re thinkin’
cutting those vital trees away
we keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
no idea where we’re goin’
let’s put on a sunny face
let’s not appear that we are dour
let us just laugh off our guilt
while we boogie down for hours
but wait, 630,000 machine guns
are privately owned in the USA
that is a lotta gaw-damned firepower
on the loose here everyday
always rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
where the fuck we think we’re goin’
maybe just to clear my head
I’ll go ’n climb that water tower
wow — I can see a lot from here
like those school kids by the flowers
but wait, 229 school shootings
337 victims have sadly died
when you send your children off to schoolg
no guarantee they’ll come back alive
the horror’s rollin’ rollin’ rollin’
the solution is not known
hey — where’s that sunny funny face
maybe if we all join in a song
perhaps sing a song of make-believe
we can smile as we sing along
but wait, our planet’s becoming a garbage dump
ton n’a half of trash gets tossed away
by every man woman and child
each year in the US of A
we’re ‘bout to blow it blow it blow it
nearly no place left to throw it
oh sure — the world has begun to flood
the part that’s not — is burning
but hell — there ain’t no climate change
just ignore all that we’re learning
let’s just pretend that all is well
these g’damned masks are irritating
these stupid lockdowns are real hell
but wait, global plague just keeps mutating
the bug is changin’ changin’ changin’
daily life keeps rearrangin’
let’s forget these world problems
most are probably spread by hacks
let’s drive through for some fast food
I’ll have a coupala’ Big Macs
but wait 14 million children
under the tender age of five
starve each day here on this planet
fighting hard to stay alive
but we keep glut’n glut’n glut’n
and we ain’t sharin’ nutt’n
man — this is hard to take
like everybody’s gone insane
sometimes I’d like to fly away
just escape all of this pain
oh shit — my hair is all messed up
guess it’s time to go back home
but time has proven to be relative
many friends and relatives are gone
people dyin’ dyin’ dyin’
those left behind just can’t stop cryin’
close that open window please
my apathy’s blowin’ away
interplanetary travel has begun
perhaps I will launch someday
maybe out there I can just forget
how truly badly we fucked up
even though we had the warning signs
we refused to drink the bitter cup
we pretended it was gonna be alright
that surely others would handle it
but wait — we “were” the fuckin’ others
and we never cleaned up our shit
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: dVerse
Poetry Pantry at: Poets & Storytellers
This is a powerful and touching write. Both prose and poem. It makes me sad, because we’re going to hell in a handbasket. And it makes me glad that there is souls out there who sees it and try to raise the alarm yet again. ??
Thank you Helene. 🙂 This was an experiment at creating a “word quilt” from some revised past pieces of prose and poetry that I wrote, stitching them together with verbal thread. It is not all I write about, as you know — but I will never put down the topic of human responsibility and survival.
Powerful piece. Technology will be the end of us, because we will allow it to. I’ve never understood how people blindly follow like sheep, answering to anything but their own logic, insight, morals, etc. “Fake” becomes a thing after one person cowardly misuses it. One person. Science and safety becomes political? I do fear for the future…”but wait” the future is now.
Thank you, and you are correct Mish — waiting is over, the future is here. But wait, it appears chaotic!?
EPIC
An Experiment Ron…
Wow and aha! That was a lot of words – text, poetry and prose. The poetry was awesome. The text was perhaps unnecessary. The prose was an asset to the poetry. I might rather (as a poet, you understand) see you pull it apart and enhance the poetry– the rocket escape as one poem, the dystopia of planet earth as another, the self-angst in seeing things in tatters but feeling the excitement of adventures yet explored as another. Good work though! Keep writing!
Hi Gay! I invite you to read my response here to my friend Glenn, it will shed a bit of light for you on what I was foolin’ around with here. And thank you for the encouragement. I have only been writing lyrics and poetry for 51 years, but I probably will continue — that is, until I am dead — of course. 😉
Holy Christ, this rant is off the planet, brother. It is two poems,. maybe three. It is Sunday’s sermon at the Existential Church of Kistner without Jehovah. I read it aloud, and I feel like a listener would feel like they just went three rounds with Ali. You are into another Ginsberg Howl, a tip of the hat to Gary Snyder, a kick in the junk for Bukowski. Stanza Six blew my rug off…”when we blatantly begin to eat our own, while copulating with false gods/ on forsaken gilded alters of rampant greed, of earthly neglect, of gluttoness abuse of planetary resources, of utter disregard for the sanctity of life, all life.” Christ, I’m short of breath just thinking about it.
This is three of my past pieces each modified Glenn, to a more or lesser degree, then stitched together with some verbal thread, to create a “word quilt” — in this case, an angry word quilt. Just playin’ a fuckin’ mind game with myself brother. I didn’t know how I felt about, but there it was — so I posted it.
This comment is a great summation of the piece, Glenn 🙂
I am pleased Sunra, that you and Glenn found this piece impactful.
Whew a long piece of prose poem. Don’t want to go anywhere else though, smiles.
Me either, I love this earth. I am trying to influence, by reverse poetic suggestion, those who don’t like it here — to leave, find a different planet to destroy. Just want them to please go, before it is too late.
Sometimes, you have to have a good poetic/prose rant. Things bottle up inside and they have no where to go. I m disillusioned with planet earth at present and it’s inhabitants. I constantly ask for guidance in my daily life to help me cut through all this strife. No joke, it’s painful some days.
I fear we are living in a world on a road to destruction…sigh…where is it all going…I want to travel the constellations…the night brings reprieve from the day’s reality.
I have actually gone off the radar a bit lately, trying to enjoy nature and the gift of life.
Have missed you True. Hope you are finding some solace. 🙂 I find my peace in nature. I call this piece I have written here an angry “word quilt” of prose and poetry. An experiment. Jury is still out regarding how I feel about it.
Lucky for you it is a word quilt. You always have the option of adding a new block of fabric to the expanding process. You could add some batting and a solid back once you feel closure. But, life is changing every day and so does the voice. I think your quilt will always be a work in progress, as it should be.
Nature will help balance you out, the heron is a teacher of balance for me. I sat under a Willow studying his behavior so patient, then wham he strikes with precision and is rewarded with food for his belly. Too bad for the fish though… there are many tidbits of wisdom there…
Sorry, my mind is wandering…nice to know I was missed…thank you…
You are fine wandering wherever you feel you should. As long as I draw breath, I will never put down my petition for common sense. Hopefully there are enough of us to turn back this building tsunami of chaos and calamity. More importantly, I hope it is not too late. I sit here again this summer, breathing the noxious smoke of the PacNW forests, part of the West Coast forests of America, that burns more fiercely and more extensively each year, at a historically unprecedented rate. Just one of the many global specters of lethal climate change that continue to increase in numbers. Greed and power keep us blind to the obvious.
A hard truth, which we all need to accept and be cautious.
Yes Vandana. 🙂
‘We were the others’ – you got it right there, Rob. We’re all to blame. I was reading just last night how the gulf stream is becoming unstable, and the consequences of this would be so catastrophic ‘we cannot allow this to happen.’ But can we stop it? Sure, we can stop the banks from failing because they are ‘too big to fail’ by robbing the people. And I guess the people who got rich doing it can jet off in their rockets. But I don’t fancy their chances of survival out there any more than I do of ours down here.
On another note, it’s true that technology brings with it many evils, as you stated, but it also allows us to connect and share our poetry with others from around the globe. I feel so much connection and I’ve learned so much about lives in other places from doing this. So it’s not all bad. It’s what we make of it that matters…
I fully agree Ingrid, technology is remarkable, I love it. However, when it becomes all consuming in our daily life (screen zombies), then it becomes a weakness, an addiction, a vulnerability , to those who would see it’s power used to control, manipulate, oppress, or impose as a weapon of human evil… and unfortunately this happens far too frequently. I firmly believe humans have progressed in technology, far more than we have progressed emotionally or morally. Always reminds me of the “we can — but should we” warning put forth ominously by author Michael Crichton through his character Dr. Ian Malcolm in his novel Jurassic Park. This is at the heart, I believe, of the human conundrum. We are so many times, in areas beyond just technology, “children playing with matches” and too often, “bully children playing with matches”. The survival of the human species has become a craps shoot (dice game), and fickle fate is rolling the bones — and fate is being coerced and manipulated by “crooked gamblers”. I wish us good luck!
True said it well … we are on the road to destruction. Rob, whatever is in your heart/mind/soul must be shared … we are the lucky recipients!
A very powerful, impassioned rant, if I may say so. What are we doing to the only planet we have!
I do not know, nor understand Punam, what the hell we are thinking — unfortunately “not” thinking!
Dark times indeed, well captured.
Thank you Ken.
There is darkness, yes, but somewhere there are chinks of light – aren’t there?
In our light there is darkness, and in our darkness there is light — because none of us are 100% one thing in our lives. We have moments of both dark and light, the yin and the yang of living. We experience happiness and sadness, we act both good and bad from time to time. It is the balance of reality.
Powerful, yes, yes, yes. Please let me write a letter so you can see my handwriting, for it is there you will find me. I write about butterflies a lot.
This is powerful, Rob, and I am very glad you shared it widely. People need to read this truth, sobering though it is. Lovely to see you at earthweal, in our on-going conversation as we watch the planet we love burning burning burning. The stanza that really spoke to me is the one that says everyone has gone insane. Increasingly, as I watch the climate breaking down and all the stresses of the pandemic, not to mention the conspiracy theorist crazies – I feel like a large percentage of the population is experiencing a psychotic break. Good stuff. It does help to write it, though it is so frustrating to be powerless when those in power refuse to act. Sigh.
To paraphrase Sherry — let’s not go quietly into this deepening night, we must rage against this dying of the light. If just let it go by, not acknowledging the truth, then we become contributors to the chaos. IMHO!
Tell it like it is Rob! Great stuff!
JIM
Thank you Jim!
I wish I didn’t agree with you so much!
We, who agree Rosemary, must do all that we can — even if it just to do our best to keep speaking the truth! Speak it in to the world until the world hears.