Deadly Nightshade

From ICE whence we came,

we learned where to find our WARM NEEDS,

in that cold, death-like limbo,

which our ancestors DEFIED,

it was our VICE,

not our VIRTUE,

that enabled our survival…

 

our weak flesh craves warmth, and LUST,

and exotic fulfillments,

the varied PLEASURES

and myriad LEISURES

of temptation…

and thus:   SOCIETY

in order that we may more easily satisfy our CRAVINGS…

 

SURVIVAL. IS. A. SIDE EFFECT. OF. SIN.

Reviews

[SpokenWord]

We have a need for instant gratification it drives our passions to create more so we can consume more. Interesting perspective that our survival is based or an effect of sin. On one hand we choose this survival and on the other we pretend it is the only way we know regardless of the scriptures. Peer into the looking glass your poem says to us and see our self as the beast we are lavishing in sin to fulfill our need. Your poem screams these needs out bold as we whisper them in the night and hide them in the dark while we pretend that it is in our nature to be good and pure.

Excellent write~

[MAC]

wow...a great poem in every way. the visual effect works perfectly and the content gets you thinking and leaves you there. excellent write oh talented one.

[Muse]

You rock! I really enjoyed your uniqueness! Even the layout was a pleasure to read. I get tired of safe, normal, cliche writing..........

[Jeremy Baker]

Great writing, and a uncompromising analysis of human nature, too. I really liked this!

[trainwreck]

This was a fantastic work. You leave me with questions of right and wrong, but also value questions. What really matters? great job.

[ScaryTrees]

yeah no -kidding( i was gonna say "no s**t" but i'm trying to overcome my baser instincts)
you hit the bullseye here
so many of our behaviors are vestigial
we change those we have a better world
let's not change all of them tho'
winter gets cold...

[Verslayer]

Dear heaven above and its counterpart below metaphorically speaking for I believe in neither but I'm tempted to! Is your poem so true or what! Sin is a wholesome function of the mind...our strongest instinct is to survive...surely we'd kill to protect our existence? Our second instinct varies between gender but love has to be involved somewhere. Your poem created a massive impact for me!

[Laughing-Bear]

My Dear Writing Friend Zoe,
I loved this poem. It had never accrued to me that one could make a poem jump off the page by adding key words in different font and size. An excellent example of painting the extraordinary with vibrant, unique, and colorful words! Thank you for the lesson in the art of writing poetry and a poem that I have mussed on for hours.

Blessings, Laughing-Bear

[Desert Dreamer]

Life wants to live...I often wonder why such a natural part of life is considered a sin. I think I will defy anyone who tries to teach that living is a sin, I'm glad my ancestors did the same. An excellent poem.

[Dani]

It's true - we are driven by pleasures. An interesting view at the end, though, comparing survival to a side effect of sin. At first it came across as almost ironic to me, but the more I read over it, the more sense it makes. I found that the first thing comparable to that statement is holding together a lie.

As for the piece as a whole, it brought back some old memories from reading "Brave New World," by Aldous Huxley. If you've never read it, it's about a society that is driven by pleasure, from luxurious items to sexual pleasure. Though written on an extreme scale, how similar that book is to our current society is an inescapable thought. That in itself scared me more than what the book was actually saying.

Interesting style/structure. Using bold and capitalized characters to make a point usually isn't my first choice in style, but I hold nothing against it here. This looks like something that should be hanging on a billboard, if only society would accept it. But then again, when's the last time you succeeded in getting one person to look in the mirror and admit they were wrong.

[William Maisonave]

I wonder if you were implying that if we were righteous we would not fear the "beyond"... that our yearning, our hunger for worldy pleasures is what keeps us struggling to live. This is a difficult subject to cover with a mere few sentences so I wont even attempt to...good write Zoe