What bright darkness gleams atop the oil slick,
lights with quartzite glints
the cut coal seam?
What sacred oozes from the bowels of the earth
make men richer, turn their hearts to pitch
and light the sky on fire?
What green rivers of covetousness flow through politicians’ pockets,
line their tailored suits, close seams
sealing their lips forevermore?
So when the day of reckoning comes
(and it will come, it’s threatening already)
the chances are you will not hear them scream,
but rather, silently they’ll slip away, into that primordial ooze
down the ass-cracks of the earth
from whence they came.
That same bright darkness lights my heart
sings in us all, I’m sure
pours petrol in our cars, and warms our homes
I do not protest, do not chain myself to buildings
nor do I change my lifestyle overmuch
but only raise my voice occasionally
tapping out a tune
the rhythm of the keyboard, quietly
singing
© 2022 experimentsinfiction.com. All Rights Reserved.
Written for earthweal
For this week’s challenge, ‘Sacred Glimmers,’ Brendan asks us to ‘look for the sacred glimmers hidden in the contradictions of our time.‘ My poem was also written in response to this article I read in the article in The Guardian the other day:
It’s really no wonder we see so little political action in the wake of our impending Anthropocene apocalypse, when money doesn’t talk, it swears…
I can identify with this. The oil men and their kind are beyond understanding yet most of us are tied into the world they have created.
Thank you Suzanne. I share your frustration!
One can imagine money talking until its last breath. So well put Ingrid:
‘What green rivers of covetousness flow through politicians’ pockets,
line their tailored suits, close seams
sealing their lips forevermore?’
I try to tell it like it is! Thank you Marion.
I absolutely agree with your thought-provoking third stanza Ingrid … and sadly your statement is all too true …
“What green rivers of covetousness flow through politicians’ pockets,
line their tailored suits, close seams
sealing their lips forevermore?”
Thank you Ivor – it is easy to see from whence the political inaction stems…
The weird light we’re addicted to — this flame arising from the impacted bones of millions of years of life — has its own joke to play on us, the sorcerer’s bumbling apprentice. Allowing us to see with dead eyes. Love the paradoxes and contradictions shining here.
Bumbling indeed – and bubbling with shortsighted greed!
Light tied to dark money, and we are all tied and caught, as well. I do the same, as you, Ingrid–probably worse.
We all do – but I think change will have to come from the bottom up, as it certainly won’t happen from the top down any time soon!
Sublime!
Thank you so much!
We are all caught in this web, but we are not all oblivious! Thank you for the beautifully expressed reminder that we need to work together for change. I voted in the Florida primary yesterday. It was, I hope, a step in the right direction.
Wonderful piece.
xoxo
Thank you 🙂
My pleasure 😊
What a stunning piece so alive with poetic truth! I love the sense of cavernous imagery alongside those gorgeous last lines that envelope the life of a writer.
Thank you so much Jaya: what more can we do?
Outstanding poem. Haunting and powerful message, Ingrid! 👏🏻
Thank you Michele! 🙂
What a fantastic write, Ingrid. The earth is definitely coming for them. 🌍
One can only hope! 😅 thanks Jeff!
You are right. Change is only going to happen from the bottom up. We all have to do something…whatever we can manage.
Exactly! Not sure I do enough, but I’m trying…
I think the day of reckoning has already come. we’re just too distracted to notice. tapping carbon was our demise…
You may well be right, unfortunately!
Perfect Dylan quote for your subject. It’s not like people with eyes haven’t seen and spoken up, but there seems nothing big enough or potent enough to challenge the role of money, the greed of capitol, in our world–until everything is gone that they can make a buck from. I especially liked “down the ass-cracks of the earth/from whence they came…” May they starve trying to eat money and suffocate trying to drink oil. Incisive, intelligent, cogent write, Ingrid.
Thank you so much, Hedgewitch, it seems we are in agreement!
I wish we could do more than have the rhythm of the keyboard quietly singing but then I console myself, we are at least doing this and a bit more. Such an insightful write. ❤️
This is powerfully shining in such rhythm at your clever and well needed message Ingrid. You are a wordsmith! 💖👏👏👏👏🌹
Aww, thanks Cindy 💖
It’s a pleasure always Ingrid!
💕❤️💕