Guinea Pigs

For Phillip Larkin

We're still rolling down the long slide!
Our windows high and out of reach!
Culture, Science, New Technology
Still developing forever and ever
And ever! As the vermin turn to quip
"Isn't it amazing?" And "Oh the times
We live in now!" While the endless sky
Is empty, not, for we've erected
Satellites to mend our needs,
Rocket-ships and Investigative
Probes that burn up accidentally
Upon re-entry(rendering them a waste of time).

But back on Earth our smart phones jam,
Our GPS can't find the block,
People die in car wrecks still,
Our cells grow cancer, heartbeats stop.
Airplanes crash, and are refined
For, and only, as a swift result.
We shell out cash for top-line stuff
But need a new when one grows old.
Automotive recalls, Toys
With lead paint for our kids,
Laptops catch on fire and
Coffee cups have flimsy lids.

Yes, isn't it amazing now!
Cover faults with leaves of fig,
That, with all advances come and gone,
We're still no more than guinea pigs.

Author's Note

A response to Phillip Larkin's poem "High Windows": http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/philip_larkin/poems/14514

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Seems we're actually standing still, counting money tho there's little of worth to spend it on; all the good stuff's gradually dying, all that remains are the bits that'll break down, fall apart, then, rot; and in the meantime we don't see our world's falling apart - and of course, that doesn't matter, we won't be here to feel or see it, will we! (That's as cynical as I can be) Your post says far more than my few words, and of course, far more eloquently. You write of emotions and ethics, then swipe them away with the mention of our throw- away society, the endless nothingness, the lack of soul value..

[Celeste21]

These kind of things need to be placed on BLAST and you have done so very efficiently. How amazing we can discover that the world is not flat, rotates on an axis, but yet can't find an efficient lid to accommodate our drinks.. Once we think we know everything is when we realize how stationary we've come despite advances that are sometimes disguised hindrances. Excellent Florio.

[Clarisse Nanoit]

This is awesome! The last 4 lines kick a*s (the whole thing does). This is very true of life in ANY time. It's very thought-provoking. I'm a fan. =)
KH

[Ruth]

And all I can say is too true! This is excellent! We seem to think we are so much more than we are, truth is, we are not! It is saddening and sickening!
Truth is a sting when it hits!
Powerful sweetheart!
xx

[NoneOfYourBusiness akaK..]

yup~ so much for evolution~ while we've come a long way in the techie and waste of time entertainment fields~ we sure have devolved in the arena of critical thinking and ethics~ so it goes with the hominid race pushing hard on the self destruct button~
great write~ a nice solid poetic slap to shatter the illusion of human development and conceit~