Thursday, 22 October 2009

Endangered - A Poem

ENDANGERED

 

 

 

There he is,

between the Siberian Tiger and the Maui's Dolphin,

Homo Mobilis Nullius.

She does not own a cellphone.

Text for her is the letters and words

that make up a book.

If he wants to take a picture,

he'll use a camera, thanks.

She doesn't want to download, upload,

freeload, overload,

girl, you've got to carry that load

of debt to the telco company.

He watches movies in the cinema

and he doesn't want to be hooked up

to the internet

or caught in the ever-widening net of commerce.

She's happy with the ancient ways,

songlines on the landline

lines on the land

where a woman can walk away

and hear only the ringing

of bird song,

lines on the land

a man can follow to the heart

of somewhere lost

and know only peace.

 

--- Copyright Ben Hur, reproduced with kind permission of Presto magazine, Christchurch in

                                                  whose pages this poem first appeared.

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