loco-motives by allison brigden

              More-for-less, more-for-less,
              More-for-less, more-for-less
 
Beguiling plumes of pleasure beckon
Wave royally from smokestack wrists
Billow skyward and vaporize
 
Smog of manufactured desire
Sinks to horizon, blackening lungs
Even as sky blushes beauteous
 
            More-for-less, more-for-less,
            More-for-less, more-for-less
 
Earth scarred with tracks
Across brow, belly, breast
Surgically transformed
 
Iron stitches and steel spikes
Driven with conviction, promised connection
Delivered division as well
 
            Build-a-nation, reservations
            Segregation, domination
 
            More-for-less, more-for-less,
            More-for-less, more-for-less
 
Fine flesh drained, harvested, hacked, fracked
Borne off on spider silk lines
Rail, pipe, wire
 
We got carried away
Weaving hubris webs
Carried away, then caught
 
            Blind ambition, acquisition
            Competition, deadly mission
 
            More-for-less, more-for-less,
            More-for-less, more-for-less
 
Iron horses, steel birds, 
Viral bits and bytes
Race off into the sunset
 
Across Earth’s imperfect sphere
Loco-motives come full circle
Biting from behind.