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
of earthly neglect
of gluttoness abuse
of planetary resources
of 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
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: Poets & Storytellers
The tipping point ~~ a warning ~~ a tragedy so many are oblivious to the obvious. Thank you for providing inspiration for our poetry this week!
You are welcome Helen. I was surprised and honored. I will continue shouting the obvious. They can call me Chicken Little, I don’t care. I love my wilderness. A lot more than many people I know!
Perhaps we are in fact on a penal colony for unsuitable creatures that don’t live well with others.
Truth is certainly capable of being stranger than fiction. Perhaps someday we will know Rob? 🙂
You’re on fire! Long may it burn bright.
I am just an infirm old man, but I hope not to be a too quiet inferno Rosemary, as my flame burns out. Rage rage! There are far too many “Nero’s” in the world today — fiddling as it burns.
I so wish that I could say that your poem it pure hyperbole. But we both know that would be a lie. The world seems to have become a dystopia. Your title says it so clearly. Still, too many people fail (or refuse) to see things for what they are.
For many Magaly, I believe it is quite frightening to look too closely at the facts, pretending all is in hand. For others, they know the facts of the situation very well, as they are purposely or ignorantly ratcheting up the volatility higher and higher, pursuing greed, or hoping for calamity and chaos — a fertile ground for catastrophe, as well as evil for the purpose of dominance snd control. Global tension is every bit as elevated as it was for the two previous world wars. The big difference is the magnitude of our ability to destroy, either through aggression or mindless irresponsibility. The extreme fragility of our reality is evident if one looks, and it is not clear to me if we have passed the tipping point.
Don’t give up Rob. The cannibalism should give us all a thought to carry in our battle.
Thanks for getting Rosemary on your bandwagon, your piece got her attention.
..
With the rampant hatred loosed in this world, we are “eating our own” emotionally and mentally, not physically — but I am truly not certain either is worse. They both result in the consumption of humanity.
One can disregard and deny as one wishes, but the rapier is only honed by doing so, eh, Rob?
Great work. Thanks for the inspiration.
You are welcome Ron. Sometimes feels like I’m just rattlin’ m’saber. But I am too stubborn to stop. And the thing is, if I am wrong, and all is somehow well — then great! 🙂
Hmmm…..the future is not looking good….who needs armaments when you can destroy millions of people with viral warfare … very quickly and effective too. The planet is sick…a depressing reality. We need miraculous intervention to put it right…if we don’t get it
down
down
down
and out !
The planet has reached a crossroads where the desire to make the hyper-necessary, significant changes has met the apathy and downright denial that critical changes are absolutely necessary. Spaceship earth is going to survive this madness, as it always does, but will the human race? The jury is still solidly deadlocked on that matter — and a hung jury spells tragedy for us.
Someday, I suppose, we earthlings will get what we deserve. Meanwhile, the raping and pillaging goes on…
As people live more and more in the screens of our myriad of electronic devices Teach, and less and less in the realtime, face to face world — we find it easier and easier to dismiss each other with a simple swipe or touch of that screen, or an on/off button. We are becoming more and more 2D “virtual”, and less and less 3D “real”. It is a dangerous subconscious dehumanization, and in that, a subtle devaluation of each other, as things we can have appear and disappear at whim and will. The internet onslaught of things to attract us and distract us, via the “instantaneous streaming” of our reality(s), creating fewer and fewer ‘whole’ things in which we are substantively grounded, making much of our daily life temporary and superficial. We are bombarded daily by unfounded suppositions and opinions, and dramatic presentations of fantasy realities through movies, commercials, snd video games, to the point that reality has become fluid — perceived truth has become relative. All of this leads further to dehumanization and devaluation of “real” human life. That is an incredibly volatile situation, perfect for abandonment of a sense of responsibility for the real world (earth) in which we physically live — hence the acceleration of environmental disasters and burgeoning collapse we are now witnessing. It also makes it much easier through mislead snd 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 the other demagogs that have taken root in society. Tense, dangerous, and sad times we live in.
First of all, thank you for the inspiration. Each stanza you write becomes angrier at who we are and what we let happen. No regard.
You are welcome Sara. I was angry and frustrated when I wrote this. We humans are so damned foolish, so careless — and we are wallowing in our own waste and destruction. Sad!