Image by Tomasz Zaczeniuk
these icons
of the clever human
they once vibrated
with the rush and chaos
of synapse and sinew
they hummmed
with networked urgency
a torrent of data
outdistancing comprehension
‘we can’
beyond the reach
of ‘should we’
a time too blind
to see its faulted fate
a time to turn back
sadly came too late
bedecked in stainless
stone
and arrogance
a halogen blaze
of neon fire
burnt logic
they surged
with the impulse of power
and greed
in varying shape
and differing size
they flanked for miles
in gridded corridors
that crissed and crossed
blinked and beeped
buzzed and hissed
they stank!
temples of avarice
now but this lone
crumbling monolith
this final tribute
to human folly
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these icons
of the clever human
shrines of synapse and sinew
humming
with networked urgency
torrents of data
outdistancing comprehension
‘we can’
beyond the reach
of ‘should we’
bloated
with a need for power
diseased with greed
temples of avarice
now but this lone
crumbling monolith
this final tribute
to human folly
Click below to see what’s turning on dVerse.
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Click HERE to read more work on TOAD, inspired by this image
Oh the folly of all this data… the greed of gathering is a human flaw, and in the end there is an empty shell… just like always.
Like David Byrne of the Talking Heads said, “Same as it ever was”. If you are curious what my deeper thoughts are regarding technology, read my comment to Dwight which I posted here.
OKAY!!! This is indeed apocalyptic! Avarice to ruination indeed.
I hope I am wrong Lillian, but as I commented in my response to Dwight, I have grave concern for the future of our children’s children.
Ozymandias 🙂
Wow, you are right Jane. I unconsciously must have been channeling Shelley today, although I had never read that piece by him, until your comment here pointed me toward it. I got chills when I read it.
Oh woe is us, this paints a bleak picture. So graphic, so succinct.
And if we don’t get a handle on our runawsy technology Beverly, and the arrogancd of superiority it stirs within us, this “bleak picture” may be frighteningly close to being accurate.
Apocalypse Soon, brother–so rife with truth and irony. A prophetic poetic written both biblically and existentially.
I do so enjoy the depth and scope of your word-smithing; a grand poet ye be, sir.
Thank you Glenn, appreciate the kind words dude. I hope my vision here is wrong. For the sake of my 5-year-old grandson, I so hope I am wrong. But I have such a strong feeling that humankind has umleashed a beast of technology that may someday consume us. But what the fuck do I know, I’m old and infirm. 😉
Bleak future, driven by greed and temples of avarice. It is our folly indeed.
Hi Grace. I hope this is not the direction our human species continues to go, but we need to examine this abuse of technology that we have perpetrated. The tech is essentialy neutral in itself, but how we are using it, and worshipping it, I believe is dangerously skewed.
Fantastic writing Rob. Could very well be what the future holds for us all.
I hope not Carol, but we are riding an unbridled rocket ship of technology right now, that we really do not understand how to control.
‘we can’
beyond the reach
of ‘should we’
and the ending. a truly chilling course we are on. i pray something less than apocalyptic interrupts the trajectory.
I hope you are right Jade, but I look at the world, and I see arrogance and chaos.
OOOH, this is good Rob! I love your prophesy of the end of the digital age. Too soon blind…Too late to see… the end is near!
It may be thst I am just too old Dwight, but I think humankind may have unknowingly released a dangerous genie, that we can’t put back in the bottle. I see the stress, and strife, and division in the world, and I believe it is because we have overwhelmed our human capacity. I think some of the conveniences that early technology afforded were fine, but they were not used responsibly, to improve the human condition, as they should have been. The promise of a better world, the dream of the 50’s and 60’s of an elevated reality. Instead, we simply began worshipping the tech, and using it to distract ourselves from the problems of the world, rather than trying to find solutions. I know that I will never see the future that I fear is coming, and I so hope I am wrong. For the sake of my precious grandson, I hope I am so wrong. However, the signs I see, the negative momentum, the growing arrogance of our species – I just don’t know?
Cleverly done, Rob.
Thank you VJ…!
We can only gather so much, Rob, and then we have to give back again, and even the mighty eventually fall. I like the hum of networked urgency, the background noise to our current existence, and the lines:
‘a time too blind
to see its faulted fate
a time to turn back
sadly came too late’.
The human species I feel has reached a point of imbalance with regard to our deification and abuse of technology Kim. The chaos in the world is partly a stress reaction to the speed at which the world is moving. We have not evolved to the degree we can handle it – and that is mortally dangerous, in my humble opinion.
A prophetic warning, I think….people have built their pride on technology since the tower of Babel! God help us.
I do so hope I am wrong Lynn, but I think this tech-beast we have unleshed may already be more than we cn handle?
Rob- a dark and realistic portrayal of where we are headed. You created such a sense of dread here- so well done.
Thank you Linda – and I hope I am wrong…
Nice reference to stainless stone and arrogance.
Glad you liked these Frank!
‘we can’
beyond the reach
of ‘should we’… story of our times… driven by everything that shouldn’t. Lovely write!
Sadly so true Thot. I hope to hell it is not too late to find a solution
Yes, yes, we have divided against one another through our technology instead of achieving that elevation. I too really worry what is coming sooner than we think, and about how my children will navigate it. Appreciate your verse and your commentary, Rob.
Thank you Marian. Troubled times.
Oh my…tower of Babel….yes, we are still trying to reach…should we? Well, I think not….We learn nothing from history.
Hope we’re wrong Mary, but it feels we’re right.
A modern tower of babel tale, with the apocylptic trimmings of the best science fiction dystopia. Well done! 🙂
Thank you Frank! 🙂