*Famous quote in 1967’s “The Graduate”. Mr. Robinson speaking to graduate Ben Braddock, “One word, plastic! There is a great future in plastic.” …Perhaps then, but now the future is buried in plastic!
“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is 617,000 square miles!
see them
there they are
dwelling in their shrines of excess
lairs of self-indulgence
altars to waste
their temples of foolish disregard
for our precious planet
observe them hoist themselves
to command positions
in gluttonous drive-time dinosaurs
dreaded treaded behemoths
that bully across the face
of our strained and crippled planet
devouring resources
like a herd
of metallic mastodons
a relentless forage
of fragile fossil fuel
to suck dry
the paleozoic nectar
300 million years
in the making
a fraction of that
to plunder and deplete
with frivolous toys
of self-extinction
that spew forth
poisonous discharge
fouling the choking atmosphere
watch them
see them
there they are
they worship convenience
they shun the conscientious
they create their chemical concoctions
they create their plastics
their plastic bags
their plastic bottles
their plastic packages
their plastic values
disposable and deadly
that offer only moments of convenience
but decades upon decades of destruction
killing the beautiful
the birds, beasts, and fishes
that roam free this planet
struggling to live in balance
with arrogant careless humans
who clog, poison, and pummel
the frail ecosystem
meant for all living things
shoving earth closer
ever closer
to the brink of no return
to satisfy a toxic desire
for bigger, faster, easier
the ever more lazy
hungry to feed a caustic ego
to assert perceived dominion
the special
the spoiled
the outrageously dangerous
watch them
see them there
they are —
you and I
rob kistner © 2019
Hi! I’m Edgrrr, rob’s shih tzu.
Plastic may well be one of the worst inventions ever thought of. Powerfully written, Rob. Thank you.
Thank you Sherry!
It’s the disposables that are the horror show–I’m glad for plastic tubing, but I suppose that and other medical implants could be made out of something else. But here you make the garbage patch visible in all it is and all it means. I guess for every invention we should ask–as some did for nuclear power–explain the whole cycle–from birth to death. Can we ever get rid of it once we’re finished using it? What does disposable mean? Then we would have known we were ultimately disposing of all life on earth.
Human’s don’t really ask Susan, because most don’t care or look long term – especially if there is money involved. Famous quote by Ian Malcolm in the Jurassic Park movie after all hell broke loose: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” The false arrogance of human intellect. We are very clever, just not very smart!
with frivolous toys
of self-extinction
we are literally killing ourselves without the true knowledge of the magnitude of it all…the tipping point will be a quick downfall..i believe..bkm
We really are toying with our extinction Batbara, and I fear our arrogance, and maybe our deep seeded fear, keeps us in denial. Nobody believed Hitler could happen. Nobody believed 911 could happen. Nobody, including me, could conceive Trump could happen. Arrogance makes us stupid. We are clever, but not always smart. Stupid could make us dead!
A suicidal race we are. So we delight “with frivolous toys / of self destruction.” and happy with our “plastic values / disposable and deadly”. Sad.
Humans are very shortsighted Sumana, and have a tendency to let our arrogance outsjine our common sense.
Clearly the poetic world is thinking this way and others too I am sure. But remember we are talking dangerously in trying to curb the advancement of investors, miners, manufacturers, politicians and millionaires who only see the future as a larger bank balance. We will be the dangerous ones of the future for we have foresight but they are blind!
The sad thing is Egg, all the groups you mentioned could have a larger snd larger bank balance, and the planet and everyone on it could flourish – but, as you said, that would require these groups to be guided by vision, by imagination, by foresight. All of those traits require more than cleverness, they require soul – and most in those groups you mentioned are soulless. I am very glad, owing to my age and health, that I will be moving on soon and won’t have to witness the ultimate collapse. But I have a grandson, and I have failed to be part of the solution to make this world a better place for him. That breaks my heart.