I painted this dystopian picture some years back to simply illustrate my poem 'The Skyline's Been Pierced'. I used it today in discussion on a wonderful post by Kate Raworth on a book reading list that could help us to understand the challenges our current economic and social system has generated.
I was replying to a comment about wealth and the 'trickle down myth', even though I and the commentator (Henrik) did not accept trickle down we are living in an economic system where the idea is successfully perpetuated while stock market wealth is illusory.
I mentioned that my and his lack of acceptance does not change the fact that we live in a world chasing electronic zeros on gaudy stock market boards, theatrical competition driven by the notion of exploit or be exploited. For those in power and emotionally invested in the system as it is, how do we engender empathy so that there is less of a drive to trash the planet and people? Here's my poem:
The Skyline's Been Pierced
How does the abstract drive us ever onward?
The learned amongst us say the left hemisphere’s to blame
while the right sits in silence, intuition has no game.
But the poetry of honesty has no mention as yet
or how easily we learn to forget
uncomfortable truths
the unfettered market and City rules.
Skyline’s been pierced by virtual wealth
myths dealt and traded, on 24/7 feral stealth.
On a foundation of negatives
voraciously dreamt
in the pursuit of pure profit
over a chasm of debt
just a concept, with derivatives
but it entraps most it’s met.
Less than nothing, has a price,
finance is a control, the cuts hit people
the stock market bell takes its toll,
or is it collateral damage?
Real lives, pawn brokered,
we can no longer afford.
Aid? Medicines, most for profit go abroad.
Services, facilities, even books and their worth
are shelved, for our cut-price
discounted, virtual world.
The skyline’s been pierced,
light could shine through
if we help one another and one another helps too.
What makes us believe that’s so difficult to do?
Has hope been imprisoned by imaginary wealth,
so our souls know no empire
except all those dreams
that persuade us to benefit the few.
Michelle Thomasson - November 2010
I'm reading The Skyline's Been Pierced on SoundCloud:
On Kate Raworth's valuable post about 'Seaside Reads to Change the World' and to her book 'Doughnut Economics, seven ways to think like a 21st-Century economist' please follow this link: