This Cannot Be Our Home
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By Jane Hyphen
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We are not earthly,
we cannot thrive here
without all our rags and shoes,
dry shelters, heated, cooled.
We all need padded cells.
There is so much food,
mass eaten, mass grown,
wrapped up like presents,
and we deserve them,
half eaten, much wasted.
Upholstered bodies,
encumbered by ourselves
but we are always sad.
We cannot live within
our own agrestal means.
We don’t belong here,
walking on two legs,
tearing up the ground,
trampling hard and deep,
leaving more than our mark.
We breathe in like giants,
out like dragons.
We hide behind our gods.
We’re not poisonous but
we make our poison;
sell it, buy it back
to choke ourselves
We can’t belong here
or this would be enough.
To antagonise…..
that wouldn’t be our game,
if this was our true home.
But we are aliens.
We’ll never stop searching
for what it is, that’s missing,
turning over and destroying,
invading and devouring.
We’ve come to look for something,
hunting it until the very end.
The end of an ending,
Obliteration of this land
which couldn’t be our home.
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Comments
This is the most thought
This is the most thought provoking thing I have read for a very long time. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT
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This is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day
A splendid depiction of ourselves as a parasitic blight on Gaia itself. Skilfully done and with possibly the first use of 'Agrestal' I've ever seen in a poem.
Please share and or retweet this splendid poem if you can.
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If I undertand it aright it
If I undertand it aright it is about the dichotomy between feeling so much is right about our earth and yet it is abused, and the fellow-travellers are abused and there is dissatisfaction. The Bible says it was made special and just right for us, but some of that idealness was removed because of sin and rebellion against God's rule, and grumbling and greed and abuse of resources increases the furstration. But all have a 'God-shaped hole' and only feel satisfied when he is taken in and helps us to be more content and sharing and await the best to come. Rhiannon
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Jane you are really on a roll
Jane you are really on a roll with your writing at the moment - please keep going. Another fantastic, insightful piece, thank you!
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Thought provoking.
Inspiring, depressing, thoughtful and worrying. Thank you for such an inciteful and interesting view of the world, Jane. I often feel alien. Congratuations on the golden cherries!
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/search?q=FrancesMF
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This is so powerful
I completely feel that sense of not belonging you describe. It's like we feel it regardless. We feel it when we live in our own curated, urban communities, and long for a simpler, slower life, more connected to nature. And when in nature, we want to make the rules, we want to bend nature to our needs and wants. Ultimately, we never find what we are looking for, one way or the other.
Thank you for this thought-provoking piece.
Magnolia Fay
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Yowser! That sure was a doozy
Yowser! That sure was a doozy of a write. Applauding here. Shold be read aloud. Really , really enjoyed this, Jane. You sure do have a way with the alphabet.
Rich
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Beautiful piece, Jane,
Beautiful piece, Jane, brilliantly written. Absolute belter of an IP.
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This is our Poem of the Week for 18th March 2022
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Please share and retweet all of you who read this.
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insects
I've thought seriously that insects are from outer space to colonise earth, well really just to look at them. Really look. They are definitely alien!! The thing obviously is that they are so tiny we don't really see a threat but that exactly is what makes them dangerous all the more. Perhaps in time insects will be rulers of the planet if not already, they certainly are better adapted than us. It will be a real war of the worlds and humans caught snoozing. And there are millions of species even and I haven't heard either of a species becoming extinct.
No sleepless nights! & Nolan
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I loved this, loved the idea
I loved this, loved the idea that we are the aliens, still looking for a a home. I thought I was the only one!! I really liked the breath in like giants, out like dragons bit. And also, it has the pace of someone walking, talking, with almost blinkered intensity except for the odd slowing/pause like in the 'but we are always sad' bit.
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