Modernity adaptivity

Ah, streaming technology…

Where I can watch programs in Russian, Chinese (Mandarin?) , Norwegian, Spanish,

all subtitled, some better than others. Creative visions from around the world.

I can have twenty programs in process of being watched, so when I’m in a horror or comedy or adventure mood, I stop one program and go onto the desired one.

Then there is Youtube on the computer,

Short or long documentaries on any subject,

fan-fiction or fan-factoids or simple rants.

As I write this installers are laying the foundations for 5G cell networks around town,

cranking download speeds on a phone up to 100-300MBPS and more.

As one who is on the wrong side of 60 now, I stand awed on this technological mountain,

none of which existed when I was a teenager,

and under the impression that then was a high point of technical civilization.

Where will it all lead? Who knows.

The world may wipe us out with climate change,

or we may be able to arrest the worst effects and survive it.

How long will the human race last?

We have beaten the odds before.

Maybe someday people will live to be 200,

and then not really want to be around to see the mess they have made.

The future should be interesting, surely not a dull affair.

Burning Lungs

We burn down the trees,

economic greed to appease.

Got to clear more farmland,

plant crops and turn soil to sand.

To hell with clean air,

to hell with our children’s breath;

Economics is not fair,

watch it lead to many deaths.

The countdown to humanity’s demise

is set in motion, despite plans we devise

to hold off the rising oceans:

Climate change is an accurate notion.

Wish there was a way to stop greedy landowners

and mentally retarded leaders from ruining us all.

If there is any answer out there I am all ears,

for it seems we’ll realize our climate disaster fears.

Who do you - twofer

I eat a diet of

Delicious bombs made of plastique,

or gunpowder, nails, spikes and barbs.

Long guns, short guns, all kinds of guns.

Assault guns, machine guns, the more

they kill, the more I will eat them.

My buffet line is full of edible grenades,

mortars, IEDs, land mines of all kinds.

I pick two of each, and eat and eat.

Never satiated, I look for more and more

instruments of death to dine on -

where is that nuke-warhead bowl?

My name is Hate.

I long for

A land, a group, a community

where there are no weapons of any kind,

where we help each other, console each other,

support and encourage each other.

We co-operate, we communicate, we substantiate

each others journey through life together,

our contact is peppered with hugs and high-fives.

We collaborate on works of art and beauty,

every day is a celebration of all that is good

and positive in the universe.

My name is Love.

Who do you want to sit down with today?

Time marches on

Time marches on,

stepping over the bodies of yesterday.

Tomorrow glimmers ahead, beckons

millions of phone-clutching people...

New apps promise ever-more bedazzlement,

Some even offering a chance to make money.

Economic upheaval promises distress ahead.

Jobs lost, jobs won, industries dying and being born;

Change is the only wet baby that runs and runs.

Strange world indeed to one older and amazed,

yet so glad to not be completely taken by the fads.

The latest gadgets keep shrinking, morphing, changing,

improving in so many supposed ways,

Increasing in price every other day too.

What will tomorrow bring?

Bring me a new lover, tomorrow,

bring me fresh inspiration at work.

Bring me better health, tomorrow,

and a body that will not shrink from stresses.

Bring me better news of the world, tomorrow,

no more mass shootings in schools or clubs, or anywhere.

Bring me more honest politicians, tomorrow,

sincere, forthright, steadfast in determination to do good.

Bring me economic success, tomorrow,

prosperity for me and my family.

Bring me deep happiness, tomorrow,

serving others and giving my conscience rest.

Bring me mental acuity, tomorrow,

so I can put the whole puzzle together.

Bring me humility and calmness,

so I don’t brag and let it all go to my head.

Bring me peace and courage, tomorrow,

so I can face my last days in equanimity.

Bring me hope that I touched a few lives well,

before time buries my memory in anonymity.

Full Steam Backwards

Standing over 20 feet tall,

He has 4500 horsepower, and

was really something back in 1941...

Back when the US had heavy industry aplenty.

Many sets of 6-ft tall wheels propel it forward,

capable of up to 80 MPH when not towing a load.

While we ooh and ahh over this mighty engine,

Europe and Asia construct Maglev high-speed rail,

some going as fast as 300 MPH.

4014 can go up to 150 miles before a water refill;

He is oil-fired, all designed for lower emissions now.

Modern diesel engines can go for a week before refueling;

But passenger rail service is disappearing over long routes.

While in other countries passenger railroads seem to flourish.

The mighty Big Boy weighs many tons,

an engineer sits way high up to guide it all.

Capable of pulling 62-car trains up steep grades,

Tubes and knobs and valves stud and dot the outside and inside;

It is all mechanical, discrete, hand-powered, human-powered:

An astounding relic of an earlier age.

Sand is dumped on rails for traction,

as he spins and grips and grabs for steel.

Throttle opened up, he leaps ahead, lets out a

mournful wail heard miles away, and chugs steadily onward.

A “blast from the past” impresses and wows the crowd.

But I wonder, what of the future of rail in the USA?

I fear that this country has, sadly, been left at the station,

while the real train of progress roars ahead elsewhere.