a comet spitting orange fire delivers by chance
its elemental payload to some giant lifeless globe.
a chemical sea of sulphurous foetid waves
is warming by degrees as a stellar furnace glows.
vacuum stretching epochs will map the crimson sky
as gravity exerts its pull on time and tide.
orbits dictate climate eclipsing light with shade
while random moving bodies converge and then collide.
precious squirming life crawls from stinking pond to hill
grows beaks and wings and learns to climb the clouds.
seasons produce golden corn; man tames the savage beasts;
order settles cautiously over nature's chaos.
intellect brings culture where art and science flourish
then walking talking rapists murder friend and foe.
technology rampages to final mushroom war,
through cataclysm all is lost, nothing left to show.
24 September 2005
life
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
sorry everyone that was crude - perhaps i will delete it in due course like all the others. Meantime i hope you don't mind my recent excursions into something approximating weak poetry.
I think Nero's first comment is a nice sidepiece of punctuation to your poem about the virus which is mankind. You should delete nothing - I thought you were rather polite to him. As you say 'technology rampages to final mushroom war'.
Ruk - I implied the word virus but didn't use it. I am very glad you did. Spam advertisements are contemptible but I am resisting the word verification padlock.
Perfect - have you read the book Straw Dogs by John Gray. Here's a link all the same:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1862075964/qid=1127643796/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-7133447-2776148?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
I think it could be right up your boulevard.
Ruk - I haven't and I just checked out the link. Highly topical and something I will be investigating. Did you happen to spot my photo at the top of this poem was taken inside the spectacular (relatively new) reading room of the British Museum?
"something approximating weak poetry"...I think not, a clever, consice account of evolution so far! Great one.
Perfect - I did notice that and forgot to mention it. It's always one of my favourite visits in London. It's an odd room which awes me and comforts me in equal amounts.
PS - I've sent you up in the RuKsaK blogroll btw
Grace - thanks so much. I am somewhat critical of my own efforts so praise is unexpected and heart-warming.
Ruk - I thought you'd recognise it. I am honoured to see my button nestling in the top 14 my good man!
your giant lifeless globe makes me think of sagan's pale blue dot. perspective, eh? this poem made me go ouch as i read it again. i've missed this.
Trans - glad you liked this one. I am rather over-loading with poetry at the moment!
Finn - interesting that you should spot the thematic continuation, though not surprising. Won't we all be surpised if I take an upward spiral!
You're right I was looking on the bleak side with this. I am not sure if there is a bright side?
Can't say much other than FANTASTIC. I love how you put it. Who knows if this is the ONLY planet that a comet brought to life and this is what we do with it. I wish people would realize this.
that boy sitting alone in the picture...
V - delighted you share the same wonder. I have heard it said that we are composed of stardust and the comet theory makes perfect sense to me. Very glad you liked the poem!
Mussolini - he looks lost, or bored waiting for his parents. Maybe he wasn't really there at all but my camera picked up his vibrations?
Flea - good to see you back. Glad to have made your slippers, fags and coffee evening my friend! I will explore the Straw Dogs recommendation, the theme for my own piece of verse has been lurking for a while. I thought of putting it in essay form but then the idea for a poem surfaced.
The thing I like about poetry at the moment is the technical discipline required. There's no room for slack and the rules have to be obeyed.
I love the imagery you used in this poem. Great!
Anna - thanks! This one took a long time to piece together because I tried to condense such a long period of history into 16 lines.
Post a Comment