Cynicism
Urban(e) smells
suffocate our human(e)-ness
struggling to remember forests,
but still sparing with ghosts.
We use to howl and rage,
even dance at the Moon –
cursing its phases and
orangeness.
Now we only nod,
that American heroin nod
as it influences our moods;
rationalizing our ability to kill
everyone, everything
different than us;
allowing us to watch indifferently
at Gaza ethnic cleansing
as phosphorous explosions
replace both sun and moon.
It’s like watching small birds
hung by their necks
swinging
like ornaments
from brown, barren trees,
thinking: “Aaah, this must be
post – modern art.
See how their eyes bulge
and their wings droop just so
in a compelling, nihilistic sway.
Haven’t I seen something like this before?”
Yes, there has always been
‘strange fruit’ dangling from
the grand vistas
of the American scream.
But today,
they say –
“Make America Great Again”,
“We can be proud to be Americans.”
Oh goodie!
But where is humanity in this?
And will humanity (we) ever see the forest again?
Or dance and howl at the Moon?
~~redzone 3.22.09
A haunting reflection on lost humanity. Our instinct to howl and dance muted by indifference, while cruelty parades as normal. The “strange fruit” lingers, reminding us of what we’ve forsaken and what it means to truly see and feel again.
Thank you RomaJ, I truly appreciate your take on this poem. “Strange Fruit”, a sung by Billie Holiday, is a song about the lynching of Black men during the whole period of “Jim Crow” America (1877-1964). These “lynchings” continue today, not done by KKK, but police terror. In the song, Billie H. talks about “bulging eyes” and “black bodies swinging”. I used birds as a metaphor for this horror.