AIR CONDITIONED

AIR CONDITIONED

From my fat chair I can see

through the bay window

that the robins and wrens

are replaced by shoals of starlings

that wheel like crowds of anonymous

faces leaning into an empty wind

from up the street.

No one seems to notice

the absence of red and green.

They, we, I find solace in

high definition hooked up to

cables and wire, all our thoughts

upholstered in unnatural cloth. 

We do not know what is in

the dirt under our fingernails,

have never heard of loam,

never bathed in a creek,

or killed the food we eat.

On the other side of the glass

the starlings are gone.

Reviews

[Lorry]

And I wonder what we'll all do when a solar flare causes us to go back to the dark ages, or worse, an attack from within. Most of us will still be looking at our useless screens wondering what happened to the TV schedule, while wondering why apps no longer deliver our food.
I am typing this from my own fat chair, wondering if I have the energy to make another coffee before watching the next must see episode of (insert any title here.)
And I bet all the best caves are already gone! 😊

[Vol]

Hahaha! I remember the sixties when my hippie friends and I wondered just how thin the veneer of civilization... and that was back when I had the strength and stamina to find a way to grow my own food, and my uncle had a farm big enough to house all fifty aunts, uncles and first cousins... It would have been crowded, but we'd have made it...

[Carola]

hi vol,
yes i've also noticed there are hardly any spiders in our garden compared to a few years ago, & we do not use any poison sprays.
everyone loves our creature comforts, including me, particularly the air con as one ages.
in the shopping centres, you don't see many sparrows anymore, I read somewhere a while ago that about 70% of their population has disappeared.
i wonder if people take their eyes off their phones long enough to even notice.
cheerio carola

[Vol]

It is a sad and dangerous time, and none of us have any idea what to do about it. Great harm has been done, and much that is beautiful is no more. I have the consolation that I am old. I also know that much of what is wrong has happened in my lifetime, and maybe we or those who come after can somehow salvage a little of what is lost.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

We take life for granted when blessed with modern-day conveniences. For all the blessings, we lose sight of those things that are really important - fresh air, sun on skin, barefoot with our toes in the earth, savoring a sip of fresh, cold water from a running stream, etc. Our soul, however, never forgets; and I think this is why people are never content. Well done.

[willweb]

It seems that we are headed toward implosion but it has seemed that way for as long as I can remember. I believe society isn't smart enough to implode, they just flock like starlings and grackles and crap on everything waiting below.