Disintegrating



Charred cigarette stubs litter the ground
Cracked sidewalk into pieces of potholed cement, urban decay
Metal sewer circle centerpiece of the street, circle of dirt and grime
Charcoal oil spills stain the way, puddles of poison
A month old snuff-colored bag of McDonald’s accommodates its own ecosystem
As opportunistic files of ants march forth and back
Chartreuse moss outlines each sidewalk square, a grid of green in a globe of gray
Nature’s sly intrusion into the urban biosphere

As I stride through this metropolitan mosaic I fuse with it
I am Synthesis, another puzzle piece lost in the noise
New Balance on the feet, Nine Inch Nails in the ears
Nike plastered across the thorax, my body is prostituted to the corporations
Ultraviolet-reactive spectacles shade my inebriated eyes from the harsh splendor of the
Golden Disc that vigilantly surveils the cracked landscape
Bursts through the ashen clouds, depreciated by the constant spit of factories
I am Atrophy, inhaling the physical and the mental cancers of conurbation
Teeth degenerating from Starbursts and Mars bars
Lungs disintegrating from cinereal smoke
As the seeping irradiation of Helios eats away at my skin, blasts my retina
Advertisements assail the encephalon, eroding my mental facilities
Conforming my philosophies
Mind-numbed member of Generation X

A culture soldier, there are no defenses against the Mondialisation
Emissary of the Damned, Harbinger of the Hopelessness
As the dollar and the Coca Cola Mega-corporation permeate your country
(Witness the kiss of Judas)
You will have no respite from the Force, the global ghoul, devourer of ethnology
It was an audacious endeavor, Subcomandante Marcos
But the damage is irreparable
Step into line, merge with the millions, lose yourself in the pandemonium of Babel
Hasta la vista Identidad, Adios Individualidad.

7 March 2004