it becomes
easier
to ignore
the toxicity
from breathing
too deeply from
the fumes of the past
the sudden kick
of false remembrance
eschewing simpler times
as perceived through
rosetintednostalgiagoggles
compared with
facing the decline
all too present
in the landfill
burning around us

it has been
a dumpster fire
for generations
it’s only now
that it is visible
from space

an alleyway abortion clinic
sending signals into the void
wondering why no one out there
wants anything to do with us
we were supposed to have
flying cars by this point
instead we have a tech bubble
and a handful of billionaires
hording wealth like impotent dragons

science fiction and fantasy
were written with the power hungry
as the clear villain archetype
buffoonish fops in finery
lamenting a life of luxury
blighted by the teeming poor
all that time spent reading
only to realize it wasn’t fiction
but a call to arms in code
when it turned out
the monsters were real all along
and they read it as a playbook