(untitled) -- a collection of experimental poetry [COMPLETE]

our age, a case for the 21st century

I.

we live in an age of DOUBT
when we are all afraid
to speak up and
say what's on our minds
for fear of being wrong
for fear of not conforming
to the ever-changing
status quo

for fear of being outed and lynched
and publicly shamed
by the masses,
which now have the power
to ruin your life
overnight

we live in an age of CENSORSHIP
and trigger warnings
and triggers being pulled
on innocent people,

when writers aren't allowed
to write
due to the colour of their
skin
their nationality,
their sexuality,
their personality --
our art is now in chains

if a white author can't
be black
if a black author can't
be white
then we may as well
burn down our libraries
and tear down our paintings
and sledgehammer our sculptures
and slaughter our imaginations forever

we live in an age of INQUISITION
where one can be sexist
without being sexist,
where one can be racist
without being racist,
where any thought
is a crime
and every word you say
can and will
be used against you

lionhearted social movements
have been hijacked by bullies
who have found themselves a method
of defending their despicable actions
under the pretence of justice

those that call themselves progressive
are now often the most regressive
and their moral superiority is nothing
but a sham

they've become what they set out
to fight,
and their hatred is spreading
like a toxic cloud of decay

we live in an age of SELF-VICTIMISATION
where being offended
has become an international sport
in the grand Olympic games
of who is suffering the most
because if someone else
is suffering
then you're not suffering
at all

we live in an age of STAGNATION
an age that is teeming
with talentless critics
and false activists
who laugh at those
that dare to create
something new and different,
and yet the critics themselves
create nothing of their own

we live in an age of IGNORANCE
when politicians manipulate
the misinformed masses
when political parties have become a business
when schools have become a business
when society has become a business

when the truth doesn't matter anymore
it's all about the money,
who's paying and who's buying
and no cares if you're lying

we live in an age of EXTREMES
and if you're not with us
you're against us --
we've created a
a black-and-white
yes-or-no construct
which fails to work
in a world that is
many shades of grey

we live in an age of EXTREMISM
when religious fundamentalists
mutilate the genitals of young women
employ child soldiers, support slavery
perform mass executions
launch airstrikes on hospitals and schools

we live in an age of CRUELTY
and yet we pretend otherwise,
we don't fix anything
we simply shout and we blame
and at the end of the day
we're worse off than
we were before

we live in an age of DECEPTION and LIES
twenty-four hour news networks
have slowly eroded our humanity
and we've placed our interests
in companies and corporations
whose profits and earnings depend
on just how dramatic
their daily headlines can be

II.

HOWEVER,
we live in a time of GREAT CHANGE
and we're working towards
a time of acceptance and equality,
of prosperity, compassion and peace

but it's difficult, it's tiring
at times, it seems almost impossible
we're full of uncertainty
because the path to improvement
must be built as we go

if something takes ten years to build
it takes an hour to demolish
it takes courage to go somewhere new
knowing, that the rest will disapprove

we live in an age of IMPROVEMENT
and sure, the future
will never be perfect,
utopias are the horizon --
as we approach,
they move further away
but even so
we should feel no dismay
it's about the upwards journey
along the asymptote
and not the destination

because, after all, WE LIVE IN THE GREATEST AGE
ours is the greatest time to be alive

groundbreaking scientific discoveries
are being made each and every day
diseases which used to be fatal
are now a minor inconvenience
the poor are getting richer
as the average quality of life
for people living in poverty
improves

childbirth is no longer a horrific,
tortuous process
and despite what the headlines are saying
worldwide violence is at an all-time low
and technological progress
is at an all time high

the life expectancy in modern-day Syria
is higher than that of 18th century England
(64 versus 41)

water, electricity, refrigerated food,
indoor heating, indoor plumbing --
these were once unheard of
absolutely unimaginable
even magical

Humanity's accumulated knowledge
in all of its entirety,
is freely available through the Internet --
a continually expanding Universe
of our own making
that has the capacity to connect
every human on Earth
that has the capacity to give us
all a voice

need I remind you
of how amazing our world is?

WE HAVE MACHINES THAT FLY THROUGH THE AIR

FLYING MACHINES

WE HAVE SELF-DRIVING AUTOMOBILES

86 PERCENT OF THE WORLD IS LITERATE

THAT'S 6 BILLION PEOPLE
WHO CAN READ AND WRITE

consider this:

THERE IS A MANNED
MODULAR
SPACE STATION
ORBITING OUR PLANET
THE SIZE OF A FOOTBALL FIELD
THAT CAN HARNESS THE POWER OF THE SUN

really,
there has never been a better time to be alive
and it's only going to get better
even if there are some bumps along the way

III.

we live in an age of IMPERFECTION
an age LIKE ANY OTHER
and yet our age is SPLENDID

we are imperfect beings
we are beautiful beings

we are lonely and confused
in this great wide world
which continues to perplex
and amaze us

after 7 500 generations
we're still trying to make
sense of it all

we're trying to find our
place in the cosmos
and someday,
we might find it

until then,
we can only try our best,
daring to dream,

proud of the age
in which we live,

proud of our age.

IV.

"The world is passing through troublesome times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behaviour and dress." -- Peter the Hermit (1050-1115)

"We live in an extraordinary age. These are times of stunning changes in social organisation, economic well-being, moral and ethical precepts, philosophical and religious perspectives, and human self-knowledge, as well as in our understanding of that vast universe in which we are embedded like a grain of sand in a cosmic ocean. [...]" -- Carl Sagan (1934-1996)