They see, they hear, they cannot
monkey-shutting eyes and ears.
They shout and scream –
and will be briefly tied and
maimed by psychotic drugs
and then released
To chimeras in the cluster bombs,
burning wrecks of cars
and the black smoke in Aleppo’s streets.
To chimeras of rubber bullets,
tear gas canisters choking
songs of Kiev civil-servants.
To chimeras when sensibility’s
gone into sensations
of charred black block-style headlines.
To chimeras in the greetings of
xenophobic camaraderie of angst
on Athen’s sunlit streets.
To chimeras feeding on hate
and only momentarily
quenched by flicker of a dying humanity
To chimeras trapped in smiles
of deceptive TV personalities
yik-yaking platitudes of ignorance.
To chimeras burning in the black market vodka
and internet synthetic drugs
lobotomizing teenagers.
To chimeras enjoying gang rape
of innocent girls in Indian villages
killing their willpower.
To chimeras of suicide bomber widows
twisting yet a turn down into
spirals of revenge
To chimeras riding the stock market broker
snorting coke while laughingly sending
steel-workers to unemployment
To chimeras enjoying the bareheaded woman
being whipped by police of morality
in a street of Teheran.
To chimeras of drunken Friday fists
in front of the TV – punching
women into forever after.
We see, we hear, we can’t go
monkey-shutting eyes and ears.
But we shut up and just obey.
For chimeras silence and scare us
into ash filled silence.
For chimeras diabolical laughter
at the sulphuric pyres of humanity.
For chimeras pulling down every effort
of resistance deep into
the septic swamps of paparazzi sensibility
For the chimeras always win.
I’m now in California, and during the long distance flight I wrote this ranting poem. Inspiration obvious if you’ve read my Poetic’s entry. BTW I got an aisle seat, and had an empty seat beside me.
This poem will be linked to dVerse open link night.
—
January 28
Björn Rudbergs writings 
I think you hit on all the dregs of humanity under the term of chimera. Yes, they have the means to always win. *sigh*
That’s what scares me…
and they wear the smiles of the damned ~
Indeed they do.
Glad you got an aisle seat, Bjorn. Really enjoyed the rant you had time to produce on your long flight. It sent me to the dictionary…to find the meaning of chimera, I must admit. Lots of valid situations portrayed through your words.
I used chimera as the monsters of evil…
Good to see that you were more comfortably seated than you expected, Björn! The chimeras you portray are frightening and remind me of the worst of TV news. “For chimeras silence and scare us
/ into ash filled silence.” – sadly they do, sadly we seem to become immune to them.
hard hitting words Bjorn specially this ~ For chimeras diabolical laughter
at the sulphuric pyres of humanity.
have a safe travel ~
oh heck… no easy verse today…really hard hitting… it is terrible what is going on in the world right now…after watching the news yesterday i was really numb a bit… glad you had an aisle seat – my favs as well and hope the jet lag is not too bad
dude, your voice rules… I could listen to that all day; awesome!
painful write… certainly the truth… most of the time we do go monkey-shutting our eyes and ears to things unspeakable and let it happen…
a lot of the times, it’s the authorities who have the power to change things… which is sad…
Well, brother, your rant was wonderful; sometimes we just have to do a Ginsberg “howl”, and let all those injustices & inequities that surround us get some attention, some focus; a catharsis, perhaps, for the poet, and illumination of the negative dregs that prefer to continue with their control procedures from the shadows.
Indeed quite inspired by Ginsberg… though I used Chimeras instead of Moloch…
Angry, but with good reason, Bjorn – I think you’ve spared no one! a good militant poem.
To chimeras trapped in smiles
of deceptive TV personalities
yik-yaking platitudes of ignorance.
Love this poem, and the reading. Too many are trapped in smiles.. hard to tell who it is that is smiling, a chimera or.. something else better
Wow, we’re not having a light evening at dVerse today … but what you’ve said needs to be said over and over again, because still no-one is listening.
Wow…so many clear vivid images…the headline grabbed me.
Your reading is powerful…excellent work, Bjorn.
Chimeras..two organisms living as one..flesh..one light..
but dark and dangerous2…
How to replace light with dark..
remains the task at hand..that is never
reALLy possible..
in the DARK
until
LIGHT
IS EXPOSED
ONCE a
GAIN
A powerful rant…glad you got to write on the airplane.
Angry, ranting Bjorn! I’m not letting the chimeras always win. Victor Frankl won’t let me. For the chimeras cannot take away my mind, my creativity, my soul. So let’s just let them think they’ve won. Allen Ginsberg’s publisher was taken to court by a chimera – and he won…
It’s a difficult poem to get thru content wise. Which means you succeed at making me uncomfortable. Do the chimeras always win? It’s depressing to think so.
Wonderful, especially heard in your voice. ❤
This is wonderful Bjorn, I can so relate to what you are saying, all round the world these chimeras exist in all their painful guises. Well penned, gave me much to consider.
A powerful rant sometimes we just have to let our thoughts out..the need to express the injustices in the world.,a poet who speaks loud..
Bravo… well ranted. Perhaps the more we rant the more we’ll be heard. Possibly wishful thinking, but we’ve got to try.. as you so admirably did. And glad to hear you had space on that long haul flight.
This is such a brilliant and powerful poem. I am going to share this.
Please do, I’d be delighted 🙂
It was great to hear you read it out loud. The poem truly became ALIVE!
“To chimeras feeding on hate
and only momentarily
quenched by flicker of a dying humanity”
ouch, this
…a scary creature indeed, Bjorn… I first encountered them in “Full Metal Alchemist” & since then I have always been intrigued of their tales… smiles… I enjoyed the read, thanks!
I clicked on like: for the writing skill! The world is going to hell in a bucket and your rant tells me how and why.
I too had to look up Chimera – (don’t feel bad though my Vocab lacks at times) ~ smiles This was a powerful write and I could picture you in your Aisle seat with no one next to you, pen in hand or laptop on the serve table, busy with your thought process.
ugh…and why is it that they always win, its sickening…brutal reality in your poem man…strong write. making us confront the world in which we live….
An outstanding poem of great truth. The mauve zone of the collective consciousness once stimulated produces this dreadful creature. Greed breeds greed and the negativity of the base instincts.
Great rant. Sometimes I wish the world was not so connected and I could live in ignorant Bliss.
You nailed the thoughts of many (including me) everywhere. Excellent wranting!
Focusing on chimeras you say fear is the root of evilness. Which I choose to counter. If so, a society in the name of “peace” would be what is considered good. And we would be tamed. Chimeras are good.
I use the Chimera as a demon of what’s evil in the world.. More like Ginsberg used Moloch
beautifully done . . . the bad things we see when we peel back the skin of civilization; or maybe when we flip[ through the channels of international news. Your words capture everything that is hopeless and bleak
See evil, hear evil, speak…nothing. Sad commentary on society.
There is so much evil and sometimes, we feel powerless against them. Will it be easier if we bury our heads under the sand?
Anyway, your trip was almost like first class. 🙂