18/03/2022

Last orders

This is the end of a massive bender

The sun is up on our excess

We can’t stand up any longer

We have not talked straight for thirty years or so

Since the active perversion of science and policy

Walking? that went awry on our way to howl at the moon

Now a sludgy substance lines our stomachs and the bottom of discarded barrels

Scattered in disarray they litter the scene like death stars

 

What happened last night?

Did you get their number?

All I remember is hiding in a graveyard from the police

We fell asleep, heads on the tombstone of an elder

That’s where I had that dream

Imagined it all

Underground

Death upon death

Bidding time

Under heat and pressure

The goodness of life consolidates

Waited to give its energy through fire

A huge power we couldn’t wield

Our demise rushing towards us in exponential acceleration

 

Back in that bar

Another slick suited man tried to whisper to me over the noise

I remember his smoking languor and rank breath

He slurred something about how we get through 100 billion barrels a day

So we must need him

Enthralled to massive macho money

We grease their loins for them

And watch them thrust into natures harmony

Watch them oil the machinery of war

Spill their filth over everything

Compromise the very water of this world

Our life blood

A toxic grip constricts every dam breath we take

It is right in there clutching at our lungs

And we long for a perfect world

Hardly

Just a liveable one

 

Thinking about our next fix even as we downed what was in reach

We can’t conceal this addiction in a paper bag

Its bursting out the seams of our world

We can’t keep lying

Or pretending

We have to raise our heads

Imagine at new heights

Say yes to the other ways

Get up

Cope with the hangover and tidy up

And this is where I completely break down with the analogy

Millions around the world suffering as I write

Too soon the normal human experience will be one of

Displacement

Thirst

Heat exhaustion

Violence and death  

We have to stop oil

And embrace a new day