2.10.08

You know you want it!

There’s no war anymore,
No violence.
The smell of the furnace has been replaced
By the shaving of bone.
We discovered the value of the body
After we realized we nearly killed the Earth.
Now the body satisfies not just our needs,
But all needs.
Like progress.

We’ve molded bowels into bowls
To drink out of.
Turns out a femur makes
A pretty good ladle.
And ribs for bicycle spokes
Keep the cities moving.

We are protected,
Just as we protect.
Words have been culled,
Raggedy sheep from a flock,
Things like oil. Greed.
Words like poison.

There are places outside the cities
Where we hid the wrecks.
The metal, engines, burned for weeks.
The plants are still full,
Just now of vines and blooms
Instead of fumes and grinding…
Industry.

“We are as one, now.”
We take not that which comes not from us.
The air is pure, and you can hear birds
With songs like a thousand suns…
“Ashes stuff blankets, Towers of Glass from dust.”

“Reduce, reuse, recycle.”



Post-apocalyptica is a popular concept, or jumping off point. That's where this poem ended up, but that's not where I started; I started at the last line, actually, and wanted to put a different slant on this oft-used "save the environment" line.