Wrong Awakening

inspired by art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tower reflects human spirits
as objects
trees crowded out
by buildings
human minds connected
to machines

 

Metamorphosis of meaning
dissolution of spirit
death
disintegration
metropolis of decay

 

Trapped within their own creations
even in sleep she cries out for release

 

Bright clouds bring hope for your escape
concrete cracked by unseen armies
roots of trees patiently strangle
machines that were wrongly awakened
freedom arrives slowly

 

Author's Note

Inspired by the artwork shown titled "Wrong Awakening" by Peter Gric.

Reviews

[R J Askew]

Ach, you capture my daily reality here. I work in London's Canary Wharf, which is a collcetion of towers. I think of them as egos. They are all straight lines of glass and steel and power. My place in all this is in the middle of a room some distance from a window, which never opens, can't open. All I can see from it when I look that way are other buildings. I can see nothing natural an I can't see the sky. This is no way to be. And my mind is linked to the machine in front of me. And I sometimes wake at night thinking about it. Ach, you capture my daily reality in my less than lovely tower, no ivory in sight.

[Desert Dreamer]

In response to madahl: "objects" in my poem refer to the depersonalization of living beings. This is what happens when people are used as tools (for example, by corporations to make profits) rather than treated as individual human beings.

After reading your comment I considered adding words to clarify my intent, but decided against it. The definition of object is "a material thing that can be seen and touched" and that is exactly the definition I am trying to express here, the process of turning an individual into a thing rather than a unique living being. Any further details would defeat the purpose of using this word.

Also, I like to leave some room open for interpretation by the reader, I generally don't want to be too precise in a poem. If I were to write an article on this subject, I would be precise about what I mean by object. In a poem, I prefer if the reader ponders what the words mean. Why is the word "object" left alone without further details? Because that is what this culture we live in has done to most living beings, we have become flat two dimensional beings living in walled cities, living within the approved choices, walking the treadmil, losing our true selves in the process as the machine eats our personalities. Animals and plants are called resources and are consumed for profit, only those that struggle to hold onto their true self is able to keep their identity. Industrial civilization is a cannibal disease and the machine only works if living beings are viewed as objects.

I'm glad you asked "What objects?"

Thank you for your comments.

[Laura Maidah]

What "objects"? Which is the subject in the second line? You don't have to PM with the answer. I'm really not that curious. Just be precise. Clarify. I don't have your foreknowledge as a reader. I can't see what you see. I don't know what you're talking about a lot. Maybe I'm in the minority as far as liking this goes.

[John Patrick Robbins AK..]

Love the style of this and it suits the pic as well honestly art is always a great source for insperation
perfect in every sense stay crazy gonzo

[Sean Allen]

Nice work Dreamer, nice that you took note of the bright clouds behind the building.

[John Jackson (El Juero)]

Slowly, true, but it is arriving, whether or not the machines know...
I love your poems, which raise awareness and intelligence.
Thank you!

[Pendantry]

Wow. I'm glad that there's a glint of hope showing through, at the end!

[kmartell]

oh yes. this is very true. the loss of earth. (even that they have made a hollywood movie about) but it is real. This poem conveys the truth.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

A wonderful thought, is the natural world, our world and vice versa, a well written piece.

[emmajoy]

The natural world uses and contribues to our lives in its ex-and inhale, we're part of it and vice versa .. urban life contains fumes and dust and .. it chokes, at worse those machines create walls to lock in the human spirit. Yours words have the same and more wonderful leaning and inclusion .. you feel.