Don’t Look Down (A Prose Poem)

We are the generation that gets to watch
Hypocrisy descend into insanity.
Not slowly but quickly
A cannonball splash into madness.
Eyes closed, not knowing up from down
Right from left
Right from wrong
Guided by a map with no fixed points
No North or South
Good or bad.

Facts are jettisoned to keep feelings afloat
Virtue tossed overboard to keep ego afloat

The educated fear to make an educated guess
The elders follow children
The written word writ only on sand
Laws written with a price tag next to them

The only things passed from generation to generation is debt
And trauma.
Too afraid to save
Because nothing lasts.
Too afraid for reflection,
Thank god for distraction.

Truth is what the disembodied voice tells you.
Truth is what the disembodied voice tells you NOW.
It just is, the voice says so
Everybody just knows
They just don’t remember.

You don’t have to question
It’s wrong to question
Anonymous authority cannot be questioned.
How can you question what can never be understood?
A system based on beliefs and self-interest ought never be questioned.

Words cannot be trusted
Your ears cannot be trusted
Even your eyes cannot be trusted
More than anything, your memory cannot be trusted
The past is written today.

We live in a world of purple unicorns and superheroes
We live in a world of oil execs who look out for us
We live in a world where our leaders must do wrong to do right
We don’t really live in the world at all
We live in our screens.

So far to fall it’s like we can just go on forever
The ultimate amusement ride.
We can enjoy it because there is no bottom
No splat, no thud.
We can just go on like this
Because everything’s illusion
Even the ground
Especially the ground
It has no place in the new reality

We don’t need the ground to grow food
Food is grown in factories
We don’t need the ground to stand on
We plant our feet in the clouds
We have our heads in the clouds
We build our castles in the clouds
And our economy in the clouds

It’s okay, just don’t look down.