Member Poem

HOLY MOLY
 
As the sun unscrambles its egg on the window
I click on the news and watch evolution collapse
 
in this shrinking world of the human-only
where a woman sticks an eggbeater into molten lava
 
the mindless behead the mindful
and Hollywood makes another film
 
about finding a new planet
where corporations don’t run for office
 
crops don’t sweat herbicides
and rivers don’t catch fire
 
Holy Moly something has to be done
since apparently we have no common sense
 
can’t get along
and can’t wait to get out of here
 
How did we become a species
of mad brutes and Captain Marvel patriots?
 
Are concussive energy bursts blocking
us from squaring our wreckage with achievement
 
evil popes with Jesus
the Ayatollah with Malala?
 
Do we have to kill for peace?
Have we given up on Shangri-La?
 
We could wrap the earth in ribbons of wildness
We could rule that no one suffers when someone else makes it big
 
We could all declare that beauty is the only goal
and time the only truth
 
So much seems no longer needed here
human egos having claimed everything as territorial or ordained
 
as if what matters is what we take from others
the world divided into inhospitable islands
 
where science devolves to religion and religion war
and judges to patrons and doctors capitalists
 
where democracy turns into a form of sports betting
and news into lost dogs and comic book heroes
 
everything paid for by manufacturers
of synthetic excitement and dream insurance
 
Everywhere there is tension
between what was and what sells
 
what works and what wrecks
what holds us back and what sets us free
 
It is not even agreed upon that we are flesh not paper
that we are blood not ink