i.

 

The ground grows more populous

and the wealthy don’t see

the hustle and bustle from their glittering,

sun-filled vistas

estates built on ivory, cobalt,

blood diamonds,

and the bones of the poor

those very bones who with a secret word

and a weight-laden yoke

built their monuments to paradise,

vast, solar-powered estates in the sky

 

“We are eco-conscious!” the rich love to claim.

“We live sustainably!”

Forgetting the convenience of their exploitation

while gazing at rainbow refractions

from acid clouds far below

a beautiful distraction from problems

they cannot clearly recall

without changing their stories

all while speed-dialling their attorneys

 

Billable by the hour is just a game

when money isn’t real

and of so very little consequence

just how high can their asset portfolio climb?

(there is no limit.)

What is money?

such an archaic word

when you own the word and control all within it

 

The proles need no sunshine,

on the ground they remain

as the affluent thrive above,

entrenched

in their revisionist histories

the world left below, abandoned

to suffocate

crushed by the weight of colonial,

capitalist pride

 

Why would they care, why would they mind

Under this economic apartheid

 

 

ii.

 

Free falling towards memory found only in

history books and antiquated monuments of yore

White-washed in lies and laundered by

the censorship of multinational conglomerates

and shell corporations—

Information provided behind inaccessible paywalls

currency the cost with no promise of Truth

the irony that “you get what you pay for”

only to receive disinformation, conspiracies,

rubbish better served

in a bin than a brain

 

One day not long from now,

people will praise the war crimes

committed against them by their oppressors

in the name of natural resource extraction

and well-funded lobby groups

serving to profit from the eternal war machine –

 

Meanwhile,

adults scream as they are crushed to death

by medical debt

and children lose their lives

riddled by

shells and casings and eternal terror

fully-automated panic buttons at your service

eyes cast away

while the real crimes take place

and the world poisons us

with the instruments

of our own engineering

 

Fill up the sinking boat

and drop the sails

as bodies fill polluted rivers

and plastic-choked oceans

infected by the fruits of

indenturement and slave labor—

 

But we don’t care, we really don’t mind,

Bitumen is ready to serve, and LNG too

White collars winning

their green paper prize

while blue collars wither

and crumble to dust

there is no karma or justice

to be found here

 

Government-sponsored terrorism is fine

Under this economic apartheid

 

 

iii.

 

Under the crown of capitalism

Only the ultra-rich are spared

from the eternal yoke

while playgrounds are bulldozed

in the name of corporate high-rises

replete with multi-million dollar

office spaces with a view

so the affluent can have an easy view,

staring down their noses at the poor

ever casting blame for their so-called

carbon footprint

while those with means

travel to and from work in private jets

and greed is ruled and executed by the rich

 

In this developing epoch,

children now play among the dead

fields of headstones cease to be

replaces with stones and no names

just a plot and a number

(if you are lucky enough to afford it)—

green spaces exist no more

only turf and desecration—

 

Middle class driven into myth by inflation rates,

foreclosures,

and rising sea levels

The earth goes to sleep,

a pollution-induced coma

made certain by

those in power refusing to

be accountable to

what they have wrought

upon the only world we have

Empowered by greed

to disregard fiscal

and environmental responsibility

(as long as that black gold can be extracted,

who cares?)

 

But I don’t care, I no longer mind

the human race can finally be washed away

and perhaps the earth can wake with a deep breath

 

free of this economic apartheid