"ddt" poems
To future conquering civilizations
in galaxies far far away . . .
don't worry about polluting the air,
our smokestacks have shot dirty-bombs
into the clouds for centuries,
mixing rain drops with the
black grime of industrialization,
transforming our children's tears
into cesspools of sulfuric acid and ddt.
We've also drained the bayous and swamps
and between you and me
don't even bother landing in Africa
there isn't suitable drinking water
for miles, you see.
You can thank years of colonization for that.
In fact, you may not want to land
on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays
in LA either-
on those days the air quality index
is 175 and far too unhealthy for any
biological organism to survive.
But at least you won't die of malnutrition
you've got decisions:
McDonald's or Burger King
choose
cholesterol and diabetes are your shock troops.
Send them in immediately,
there won't be much resistance
we've got these things call lazy boys
and daytime t.v which have
enslaved the population and decreased
the distance
between fully functioning
human beings and mindless apes.
Don't worry about bringing weapons
we've got those too
we've perfected the art of blowing each other away
there's not much for you to do.
we destroy cities with fire from the sky
and our mushroom clouds rise
at least ten miles high.
And god can't see, there's too much smoke
in his eyes
and our radiated children die
with radiated sighs.
While we are on the topic
don't worry about us spreading
propaganda
we've lost the ability to communicate.
We've learned
books turn a peculiar dark yellow
when lighted and burned.
And forget erasing history,
we've done that too.
Our subjugation of native peoples
is masked as 'patriotism'
under the red, white, and blue.
But don't get me wrong,
I tell you all
of this not to dissuade,
please come and attack,
please come and invade.
Here, I'll even turn
on the lights . . .
Dec 23, 2012
Dec 23, 2012 at 9:06 PM UTC
in winter we rubbed off our skin with bitter yellow soap
& danced across the murky floor of our brains.
ankle-deep in ambien, our toes scraped urchins & palms of anemone.
we built shelters in the living room
from moss-green blankets & coffee tables,
our fingers making furtive wishes in the quivering dark.
we picked small hairs & pennies out of the carpet.
when i grew hungry you offered me your left thigh
like an unwrapped christmas present.
under the aquatic quake of the fluorescent light
you fat seemed to boil
& your bed turned into a small, cold island.
we opened checking accounts under fake names
& you started to worry about your gently doming stomach.
when the mailman came, we cowered in the closet.
each year the temperature of our livers
rose a few degrees.
spring brought us flowers that smelled like DDT.
––Appears in the Spring 2013 issue of The Columbia Review.
Jan 19, 2013
Jan 19, 2013 at 11:42 PM UTC
Come on, you say to me,
help to **** the soil dry of
deep, muddy clays made by
colonial lullabies and
forgo your selfish thoughts
of suicide in favor of a
dark grey summer salad coupled with
a nuclear fish fry.
Unleash a cosmic sigh, I
bleed to breed my human seeds and
cultivate forests of ***** while
pulling up deliciously
edible weeds who sing
laughing limericks we
care not to listen to and
languishing warnings we
care not to heed.
Me and you, baby, let's
build a box made of
ticky-tacky in the back of
some skeletal, suburban
cul-de-sac, crafted over a
cesspool vat of human feces,
spicy DDT and industrial-grade
mercury.
Apathy towards the life source
breeds apathy towards corporate force
breeds disgust, killing the serpent and
reclaiming the horse, tossing the
apple, preparing for the worst.
Pile up pounds of gold and
crowns to assign money a meaning
and postmark letters filled with
plastics and post-its with
"PARADISE IN THE REACH OF ALL MEN"
scrawled in felt-tipped pen to
peoples perched on the edge
of the planet, to whom
time gave rhymes from learning to
lay their ears down in the
dirt and succumbing to the
the devil wearing a blood-stained,
starched, white shirt.
Dilute the base of me with
an acidic you, quick, pollute
the river so salmon scurry
downstream and the arduous algae
dries up, screaming.
I wonder if the taker can
become the giver.
Sep 16, 2014
Sep 16, 2014 at 6:58 PM UTC
The lovely scent of DDT,
Liberated, cleansed set free.
Those left living at the end.
Louse ridden, dismal bones in bags.
A camp liberated by new found friends.
(C) LIVVI
Jan 27, 2015
Jan 27, 2015 at 5:32 PM UTC
au naturel no hormones nor seed
********
nature made, me
no viagara no ddt,
definitely
no preservatives in,
no bionics or
genetic alteration
there is nothing
could make you as sick,
as my reflections.
Nov 13, 2014
Nov 13, 2014 at 1:19 AM UTC
Hum. Hum. Hum. Hum.
Hum. Hum. Hum. Hum.
Notice the notion.
Hum. Hum. Hum. Hum.
Hum. Hum. Hum. Hum.
Faster.
Hum.. Hum.. Hum.. Hum..
Do you celebrate such occasions?
Linger into the presence of your
long lost friends and different
hidden enemies?
Hum.
What do you want?
Stay on focused.
Your attention is driving you crazy.
If only you’d close your eyes amidst
that notion..
hum! hum! hum!
It’s all in your head.
Hum.. hUm.. huM..
Carve your way back.
Your growing gnarls everywhere.
It’s grotesque but that’s alright.
hum!
You developed the early signs
of decay.. humMMmmMMmm
BREAK!
Inhale like a hero about to
unleash his full potential
against a formidable fiend!
Exhale! Like the last of
your power is beyond the
rites of your will!
REST. . .
Admire your heroes:
Bukowski finished beyond
comprehension.
Mercury came to ‘em all!
Nobody does
The DDT
like
Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
You’re not special.
You’re no different.
You’re not the protagonist.
It’s just a first person complex.
Your life is not a Salinger novel.
but
don’t die before your fears.
die suddenly.
die unexpectedly.
Jan 16, 2017
Jan 16, 2017 at 10:23 AM UTC
When I was a child
Fireflies romped and played
In the night skies.
But that was before DDT
Wagtails strutted on green grass.
They drank from pools and made me laugh
That too was before DDT
When I was a child
Forested mountains grew high
For us to climb up into the sky
But now new mountains
Of plastic and garbage grow
And so they will stand
For they decompose so slow.
Trees on the mountains
Are all chopped down.
The birds and the animals
Who lived there before
Are gone and many will be seen no more.
We’ve ****** the underground rivers
Of oil almost dry
And polluted the air
Until you can hardly see the sky
We've dirtied the rivers
With our waste that piles high.
Proud mountain lions, tigers,
Elephants, gorillas and monkeys do flee
To the last few places
Where they can roam free.
I fear what will happen
When we destroy them too.
What kind of world
Do we leave for our children
Tell me please do
When are we going to realize
That we are running out of time.
The earth, birds, animals, air, and sky – cry.
Who is listening?
Who cares?
Who will try to change
The course we are moving along?
Dec 21, 2013
Dec 21, 2013 at 12:58 AM UTC
Who made the Orange,
for Uncle Sam.
The 60,000,000* litres,
they dropped on Vietnam?
It wasn't made, in the
United States!
So where, pray tell,
this mystery grates??
A clue for you, no
suspense, I'll keep,
It's a country, with as
many, litres* as sheep!
It's where they love to tell
you, that it is clean and
green, but it is far from that,
I know, I've been.
They were last, in the
world, to ban DDT.
They are xenophobic,
Pacific POMS, with a Zea.
<>
No © Please Plagiarise
this poem, spread it like
slurry on the streets.
Kiwi's have just banned
foreigners from buying
property in New Zealand.
They have no rights there,
it is Maori land, Maoris are
treated like 2nd class citizens.
Aug 25, 2018
Aug 25, 2018 at 4:20 AM UTC
Coming soon to a planet near you
Air we can't breathe
Plants we can't chew
If the EPA has it it's way
The skies will blacken
The rivers will burn
Automobiles will be our ruin
Heat our houses,
Cool our stores
America will still use More and More
Rachel Carson saw this coming our way
Citizens cried enough is enough
It's time we made polluters
Eat their own stuff
Then along came an administrator
Determined to ****
Not only the laws
But the people as well.
Rachel made sure that DDT went away
and by that research
We still have eagles today.
Eagle the symbol of America still
But with more pollution
We are determined to ****
**** the law and thereby **** the people.
What did God say
"The earth is mine, sayeth the Lord."
Apr 10, 2018
Apr 10, 2018 at 9:30 AM UTC
The drab
brown butterfly
sits on a white blossom
incautiously drinking honeyed
poison.
Nov 5, 2024
Nov 5, 2024 at 9:29 AM UTC