I met an alien bathing in saline
It was quite the unexpected scene
he said, "Sir, my galaxy dweller
I'm not an accomplished seller
but offer for you and your kin
I have a redemption for my sin
A solution to planetary demise
Trust me, for I cannot tell lies
Bounded by truth, my vocation
Just decades is my estimation
That's just how long you have left
Before Earth becomes dearly bereft
My sin, please do not press me
It is my one regret, you see
Heed my advice, and learn love
As a symbol, I give you this dove
Show it to your leaders, peoples
Proclaim it from peaks, steeples
I gave into greed...hate—we all did
My people were moral, but we all slid
Slid so deep into depravity
failed to see the gravity
of the situation, of our existence
until it was too late, resistance
as they say, is futile, we were lost
so travel I went, to right at any cost
the ills of my people, to prevent others
from suffering the same, you, my brothers
in pain and anguish, on the cusp, the eve
of destruction unless you try to leave
but would that solve the problem?
Or would that shift the problem?
to another world, another space
a different planet with the same fate"
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: So, been reading my Nanowrimothingo from last year, ahead of this year's challenge and it's doing my head in. I need to do something with it. Not sure what. It's quite a strange piece to try and edit because it's epistolary and consists of lots of journal entries, transcript-style notes and poems etc. So, who knows. As it was written for Nanowriomo it's also massive, so would probably be divided up into chapters or something if I put it on Vocal.
Anyway. Reading over that led to me dipping into my "Not Just Now - Vocal - Writing Stuff" WIP folder where I stash things I am not sure when I want to do anything with them or if I know what to do with them. I actually uncovered a number of different things I will be using and putting to good use.
And also found this poem from August this year. Food for thought? Felt good enough to share, not terrible enough to waste.
Here are some other things:
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
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Comments (19)
Well said, buddy. But would we listen?
Always share!! I enjoyed. Lots of social relevance here.
👍🏼Ditto Donna’s comment!🙃
This was certainly thought provoking, Paul. Ps. Congrats on honourable mention for most discussed story!!
Definitely awesome enough to share. Glad you did.
Very mindful and thought provoking. I actually loved it!
The flow and rhyming are awesome!!! Love this!!!
A good and needed warning in this! And some well done rhyme action! Glad you plucked it from the Not Just Now folder! Totally unfamiliar with Nanowriomo so like Angie I had to google it! That’s quite an undertaking!!
Nice. Love the perspective of an alien.
Can't help wondering if this is the same alien who sampled all sorts of booze with the Scots last year... I hope that drinking session has nothing to do with his regrets but he seems rather too sober now, lol
Important message and would sound great performed out loud 🤗
You have a real affinity for the extraterrestrial perspective, my liege!
Wonder if we can learn more from aliens than history? nice poem.
"Different planet, same fate" reminded me of what I always see at the beginning of the year, "New year, same shit". Lol. I'd love to read your Nanowrimothingo if you decide to publish them as chapters here!
I love your moral fable, Paul! It’s pithy and it’s true. At the top of the food chain, we humans are piss-poor stewards, that’s for sure. Agree with LC, too. Why go to a dead planet and revive it when we could fix the not dead yet one we live on? This whole colonize Mars shit makes no sense to me at all!
Well, I like it! And I agree, what's the point of shoving off to another planet without a change in behaviour, we'll only shaft that one as well!
I loved your wise little friend 😍! I had to Google Nanowrimo… brave laddie! All the best ✅.
One must be careful in all the things we eat, drink and whatever else we need to do in this world. Good work.
Not terrible at all, and an iimportant message. I promise not to make any stupid comments like "Take it with a grain of salt."