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More excerpts from Fractional Disorder
by Gary Beck

 

 

 

Advancement

 

The Industrial Revolution

built a new class,

non-landed capitalists

who nibbled away,

then ate away

at the roots of agriculture,

until factories devoured

the bulk of earning,

creating a new peerage

so far removed from the earth

they lived farther from their holdings

then the plantation aristocracy.

 

And men of great wealth

began to disappear from visibility,

except the great barons

hated but admired

by an envious people

deluded by democracy,

blindly believing

and encouraging their children

to lofty aspirations,

denied to almost all

because of limited ability.

 

 

 

a line, (a short blue one)

 

 

Descent

 

 

Before we descend into chaos,

poverty leading to hunger,

desperation leading to crime,

there is still a modicum of hope

that the owners of our land

will relent and moderate

economic oppression,

allowing subsistence for many

expectations of abundance for some,

but some of us fear

the wealthy have illusions

of retreating to protected enclaves

when rioting and disorder

convulses a needy people

submerging into animalism

as they struggle for survival.

 

 

 

a line, (a short blue one)

 

 

Precipitation

 

 

Rain falls on the city

neither gentle nor soothing

to the unappreciative

who no longer know

where they get their water,

the essential service

that we can only do without

a little longer than air.

And as we rush to work, school,

shopping, other activities,

we resent getting wet,

fume at any delays,

get overheated,

uncomfortable,

completely unaware

we once lived without shelter.

 

 

 

a line, (a short blue one)

 

 

Scientific Progress

 

The chaos of the universe

unperceived by most

who go about affairs

unaware disaster looms,

work, play, create, invent

in the blind expectation

that nothing will interfere

with best laid plans,

comforting routines,

triumphs and defeats.

We often do not learn

pleasure is fleeting.

Those who speculate

on the meaning of existence,

ask why are we here,

examine right and wrong,

question the nature of belief,

reach arbitrary conclusions,

except certain scientists

who demonstrate proof

at a primitive level

of demonstrable facts

that make drastic changes

in day to day life

that most of us accept

without understanding.

 

 

 

a line, (a short blue one)

 

 

Madness Unleashed

 

Insane attacks

with guns, knives, bombs,

increasing

in fraying America

yet we walk city streets

reasonably secure,

expecting

to arrive safely,

at home, school, work,

be unmolested

by a disturbed person

waiting to detonate

for whatever reason

on innocent and guilty alike.

 

 

a line, (a blue one)

 

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