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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Remains

After the end,
when the landscape’s been reduced
to a smoking ball of glowing rubble,
there’ll be no witnesses,

save for the boxes
some simple
some elaborate,
housing the bones,
the remains.

Skeletons
and skulls frozen in
macabre eternal smiles,
some arms folded,
some at their sides
as custom permits.

Lying unceremoniously
at the bottom of these
caskets
will be the piles of stuff
that outlasted us,
the detritus once deemed
important, nay
life-changing:

multicolored
military badges,

deflated plastic sacs
where silicone and saline
once jiggled,

stray jewelry,
the rings and necklaces
of varying levels of
sentiment and
temporal value,

hard plastic
prosthetics
that prolonged abilities
and kept stigma
at bay.

Still, all of these things
over eons
will eventually dissolve to
dust,
easily blown away
by the spinning
of the earth.

So,
if you do not
cremate me
and return me
to the dust,
as I’ve suggested,

then please bury me
with something
permanent:

bury me with
some nuclear waste,

something that’ll last
a couple million years
or so.

(Written for #OpenLinkNight at http://dversepoets.com/ - the best poetry site in the world!)

39 comments:

  1. eww....i got a bit of a chuckle out of what would be left...i am sure the cockroaches will have fun playing with it..and sadly the marks of or ill attention to nature and our own lives--like nuclear waste---will surely outlive us...what a legacy...smiles..

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    1. Yes, I can only imagine what the cockroaches will look like by that time- perhaps, bi-peds? Thanks.

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  2. oh my...your poetry is never dull...bury me with some nuclear waste..you have kinda nuclear energy yourself you know..smiles

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    1. Thanks, Claudia, that is a compliment indeed!

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  3. Anonymous2:12 PM

    Love this, Mosk.
    Especially:
    "save for the boxes
    some simple
    some elaborate,
    housing the bones,
    the remains."

    And "bury me with something permanent..."

    This is just a gorgeous, strong piece.

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    1. Thanks, de, bury my poems with me! They will give the worms badly needed fiber!

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  4. What a sting in the tail! I don't want to be buried - a waste of good land in my view.

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    1. That's what I say - plant something that'll live, not just lay there dead. Thanks.

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  5. Anonymous2:28 PM

    my wife asked if I would prefer burn or bury (my phrase, not hers). Told that at that point I would probably not much care.

    somehow this feels like a tour through a casket without being at all morbid.

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    1. Thanks, in the long run it's just stuff.

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  6. Oh, that hits home, doesn't it. Yes, nuclear waste is all that will be around when we are all turned to dust once more.... sheesh!
    I want to be cremated too. When I'm gone, I want to be completely gone! LOL

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    1. Thanks - I think the cockroaches will even outpace the nuclear waste.

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  7. You have a great way of stating truths--I guess nuclear waste would be around for a while--and the rest, well it all passes away--lovely write!

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    1. Thanks Audrey, but I hear the nuclear waste will eventually be safe, so there's still hope.

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  8. About this stuff I do not worry too much, for the world will outlast us by at least half an Eternity (HOW'S that again???--grin!).

    Maybe after us it will be time for the cockroach to claim its dominance over the ashes. It has survived HOW many ice ages, etc?

    Maybe something can grow from nuclear waste? Who knows? Maybe we will be on Mars by then! Who knows?

    Who knows? Well, I sure don't! I have faith and hope that the END of this tiny particle known by us as earth is not the end of everything.

    Only thing I know is you sure do write well, making your point about your wish for permanency of anything, even atomic waste.

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    1. Thanks Steve - I try not to get too philosophical, but must admit, that the site of coffins with skeletons, deflated breast implants and decontextualized military medals is intriguing.

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  9. I know this is totally off topic, but... This made me think of this article I read about how the zombie apocalypse would start.

    Never a dull minute over here in Moskie Land! :-)

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    1. Would appreciate a link to that article about the zombie apocalypse (can never be too certain, you know). Yes, it's never a dull moment in my MoskieLand, and sometimes I wish there would be. Thanks!

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  10. Anonymous4:45 PM

    This poem is powerful, the imaging good, to the point it hit my sensitivity to cover my eyes when as if seeing something hurting. Well done
    http://leahjlynn.wordpress.com/

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    1. Thanks, it wasn't meant to be painful! Just a demented look into the future. :)

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  11. Anonymous5:11 PM

    Amazing work.

    Strong and creative imagery, fantastic build up and a complete finish.

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  12. A dry and stinging reflection of the world and our times. You hide the wisdom within a dry sense of humor...very smart indeed...as I leave this blog I will ponder your words and the ones that weren't said, and the result will be my own pen ignited. As a personal aside, I intend to burn as bright as the sun and rise like the phoenix from the ashes...just to freak out a bystander or two ;)

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    1. Ha! I love it that you plan to rise after your immolation! You go, girl!

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  13. love the twist at the end, and all so true... in the end, what we have stays behind, only love remains.

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  14. Pure elements last a while but certainly not things that can rust away. Even after death, natural process remind us that things continue to wear away, transform. It's hard to write on such things without the morbidity, this poem doesn't seem morbid but peaceful and gently moves one towards acceptance of such.

    I think I just want to go with the wind.

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    1. Thank you - I think I agree with you, plus at that stage, I won't really have much to say about it. :)

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  15. Anonymous8:49 PM

    I can only imagine how many deflated plastic sacs there'll be.

    Your unique point of view triumphs once again, my dear Mosk.

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    1. Thanks, Zoux! Yes, that's the sight I want to see.

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  16. *Chuckling* Good point there! No half-lives for us!

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  17. Anonymous11:27 PM

    A poetic time capsule! But, sheez..bury you with nuclear waste...oh, way to be scathing...and yes, to the point! A great write, Mosk, and a needed kick in the ass to mankind. What kind of legacy are we leaving...? Good write!

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    1. Thanks, and I don't care how I'm buried (if they bury me) I'll be dead! Whee!

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  18. did not see the nuclear waste coming there at the end. bit bleak, this, yes? but thought-provoking.

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    1. The owners of the nuclear power plants didn't see the waste coming either. Thanks, Joanna.

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  19. If I did not love you so much, I would hate you...too, too strong, and for me, as I burn & bury friends and wait to soon do the same for others, it strikes more than a few chords...I think of friendships of 60+ years and consider that a long time (and it is), but then I catch a glimpse of the universe as only you and Doctor Who see it, and I know it is just a wink, just a pebble on a mountain...if I had not had that moment in the tunnel with the bright white light 45 years ago, it might frighten me

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  20. beautiful poetry. great imagery. i like being buried with the nuclear waste!! i told my kids to devote my body to science, to have them, throw my body into a 777 engine and see what the results are, the way they throw fowl. i mean you never know when an engine might such up a skydiver...right?

    if you don't know what i'm talking about, check out chicken gun

    (my entry for this week, so you don't have to seek it out:)

    spaceship tanka

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  21. A cool creative write !

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