Austere Landfill by Rosie Buf

Where do you go

to shelter from the cold?

Where do you go

to withdraw from the wind?

Where do you go to find light

in the longest of nights?

..

Skeletal trees linger over lakes of ice

As far from the harvest moon as we are the hunger

The equidistance between equinoxes

..

The bleak midwinter

Bleak and baron, an austere land

In a time of austerity

..

And what will the toll be?

The cost to life rises

with the price of fuel

Big business and government

stay case-hardened and cruel

..

And where do you go

to find warmth in the coldness of cuts

Where do you go

to feel compassion

in this deprivation of humanity

Where do you go

to stay clear of the cheer that erupted

for the bombs that then exploded

And where do you go

to say, without judgment and shame

..

Tampon

..

So this is our developed world

Following our enlightenment

The light of which now shines dim

In these dark days

..

Have we really come so far?

Or has a U-turn been made?