Detail from one of my paintings.
The Sunday Whirl presented these twelve words for us to use in a creative writing piece.
shelter settle rose rocks edge step messy flesh left ghost scrap tremble
shelter settle rose rocks edge step messy flesh left ghost scrap tremble
Poets and Storytellers request that I write about my message to humanity.
The Wall
It shames me to say this—
I don’t care.
The world does not deserve my care.
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I look around me
At the messy, dirty, greedy world
That has little to commend it.
It makes me want to build a wall of rocks
To shelter me from it, protect me
From a world that daily appears
One step closer to the edge
Of oblivion.
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But I am not being fair—
The world itself is lovely:
Sunsets, roses, pines, the oceans,
Stream, birds, butterflies, wide steppes.
The feel of wind in my hair,
The touch of grass on my flesh…
The world, the earth, is a wondrous place.
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But what is left of it now?
Why can mankind not settle
For the beauty that it has inherited
From the ghosts of people past?
Does it have even a scrap
Of awareness of its responsibility
To the generations yet to come?
Alas, there is no sign that it does—
War, greed, arrogance, consumption, entitlement.
The edifice now trembles, wobbles;
Small stones fall here and there
As the structure flexes under stress.
◊
But I am beyond caring.
Nothing I say or think or do matters.
So, in tiredness, not anger—
I build my wall,
Rock by rock.
◊
It's a very grim situation.
ReplyDeleteRich piece. Resonant for anything thinking person but ironically, very hopeful in the way you built it up, rock by rock. One feels that the wall is not an artificial barrier but more a letting go of worldly cares while attention could be.......perhaps the next poem will be about the alternative to this earthly world?
ReplyDeleteI hear this. I've spent most of my life building such a wall around myself. and now, I'm doing my best to take it down, one rock at a time. it truly is a magical rock we live on, hurtling through space...too bad we're more like a cancer to it than gardeners and responsible custodians.
ReplyDelete