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I went to a sanctuary today:
The remnants of a dammed river
Called Tanyard Creek.
Life was vibrant and flourishing,
Glowing with green and streaming sun,
Cascading falls and clear pools.
I even befriended a turtle;
It was all very lovely, I assure you.

Yet, this used to be a river
Before Man built that dam,
And it must have flowed for miles --
****** and untarnished --
Before Man built that dam.

I'm reminded once I reach the other end
Where it flows under an overpass
That this all is simply allowed to exist:
Someone owns this.
Someone can trample all of this.
This fledgling remain of something ancient.

This is the fate of the entire world:
It all has a price tag.
It can all become a parking lot,
An oilfield,
A sweatshop,
A mall,
And if this system goes unchecked:
This paradigm of infinite consumption.
Then that is where we will one day be,
With backyards that need to be genetically-engineered to survive.
Where every animal is exotic and rare.
Where New York is underwater.
While we lie in gas-heated homes,
Huddled away from the decaying world,
As we chase away the fear
That it is far too late,
That these wounds are fatal,
And that we let our greed and indifference
Ruin the world that gave birth to us.
S R Mats Feb 2022
Written in 2014
(Dedicated to the memory of my Daddy, Dan A. Hacker, Jr.)
The heartbeat grows before we ever arrive;
Finally, the tires crunch on the briny soil as we pull in.
Daddy walks around and opens the door for me;
He is wearing his sliver aluminum hardhat;
I slide down the seat and clumsily out of the truck.
The heartbeat is overwhelming now,
Too loud for a human voice,
Provided anyone was inclined to speak;
Daddy is already checking gauges.
The smell of shell and oil and salt and gas
Blend into the cologne, it is the scent of my daddy.
Leo  Sep 2020
Collapse
Leo Sep 2020
An empire rises
It is built trading fetters and blood for gold

An empire falls
It is buried by an oilfield inside of a dismantled nuclear chassis

No gold to its name
Only fragments of promises
And lies
Fed to infants and children through play and flags and glowing screens and pledges of allegiance to dead concepts and gods who only love the people who spread their name and poison - literal poison that is the only source of sustenance for slave wage debt prisoners ******* at the **** of late stage consumerism betting every extra penny on fifteen minutes of fame sold to them by a man who built his name out of making things that say only that they are nothing and the raving somatic processes which stem from bleeding every other living being to get on top so you can scream from the top of a twisting metal skyscraper as it succumbs to the earth, “Look at me! I made it.” and the everyone who listens even though nobody really cares

Who grow to hate

Either

Everyone

Or

Themselves

— The End —