The New Pompeii

A poem about consumerism.

The New Pompeii

 

 

The dam of consumerism has exploded!

 

Rivers of silver and gold pours into wealthy cities all over the globe. It engulfs everything in its path. The river swamps the suburbs, it glides over the cars in front of homes, the shiny metallic substance works its way through the homes covering washing machines, televisions, computers, fridges, phones and a small boy playing on his game console.

 

The river of silver and gold runs into the city centre, it paints the buildings, roads, streets, shops, restaurants, supermarkets and people with a torrent of greed. It moves its way to the government buildings and drowns the politicians very slowly as it flows up from their polished shoes to their immaculate suits and finally the shiny liquid pours down their throats and into their lungs.

 

 

 Like molten lava it swims through the high street shops smashing the windows and covering its customers. A woman is trying on a new pair of high heels (she has over 100 pairs at home) a man is trying on a new suit while talking on his mobile phone about dinner arrangements for the evening.

 

No one is saved!

 

Once the damaged is done, everything is covered in silver and gold. The morning sun beams down on the sparkling roads and rooftops. Birds fly overhead, their feathers glisten form the brilliant light down below. Cats and dogs run through the cold metallic streets, trees, plants and the rest of nature survive the rivers.

 

Everywhere is silent, no noise from the human race,

 

The money has stopped being spent!

 ©LukeRitta

Reviews

[Writingfox]

Wonderful read. I have always enjoyed your descriptions and I dare say you have improved even more. I also really like your theme and idea, it is quite frightening to see the parallels between seemingly ancient history and our society today. My only suggestion is to clean up and deepen "...A woman is trying on a new pair of high heels (she has over 100 pairs at home) a man is trying on a new suit while talking on his mobile phone about dinner arrangements for the evening." Take it and run with it, I know you can dive into it even more!

[reflectingus]

Oh man, I give this 100/100.
I loved this write, the candidness of it, the facts just thrown at you. In developing countries, especially, it has been noticed that the rich is simply getting richer, and the poor is getting poorer. Everything is gold-plated, even our minds run on money. That deadly river of silver and gold has proved to be a non-glamorous global phenomenon, and I just love the obviousness brought forth by you. We definitely own more than we need, get greed into our minds, and just take everything for granted. And eventually all that 'hip and happening' things are found in the trash, so much pleasure in the wastage or time and money, apparently. Certainly, since more people can afford this stuff, world may have developed, but the minds are just getting more and more under-developed. I'm so glad you shared this unique write, as after all, writing is to express whatever's on your mind, so this is certainly something different, that I enjoy and share similar views. As for the writing, great job, love the reference to the 'river', makes so much sense, perfectly written.

[AK]

Very nice!

[The White Wolf]

You know, I have often thought about how the downfall of civilization would be by our own greedy hands. I appreciated how you used Pompeii as a symbol for this, not just because they were cocky enough to build their city under an active volcano (good analogy for consumerism), but being they were encrusted by the debris it left in its wake. And, after all is said and done, nature goes about its business as usual, even in this disaster zone we have created. Very well done, my friend.

[Poetic Beauty]

This is so true. Consumption of goods is everywhere. The wealthy definitely over indulge and the global market tries to make all of us think "we" need this to be the person we are suppose to be which isn't true. There are things we need and things we want. When we truly realize what it is that we actually need, then we are much happier.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

The perfection of imagery really is the starkest feel of the prose, you describe the tragedy and consequent ability of future generations greatly, well done, great read.

[Brandon S. Whitten]

Excellent read. Love the foresight of this apocalyptic dream. May be one day we'll get it. I shiver with antici......pation.