Myths, Legends And Destruction
Myths, Legends And Destruction
Non-fiction! I chose it because it’s factual
Factual, it is; densely packed with detail
The story1 it tells us about the last 20 years
Every fearful, anxiety-provoking moment
It’s supposed to inform, entertain
It fills me with dread
It’s a horror book. All the monsters are human
Committed to twisting reality and bringing destruction
I try and wrap my brain around it
Or, at least, to free up enough space to accommodate
Its contents; with little success
Why there are so many dying and dead
It’s not by accident; it’s by design
Why Putin’s not listening, why Russia is in Ukraine
The reason’s fantastic (the stuff of fantasy)
Truth and factuality are not the current buzz
Myths and legends; so quickly resuscitated
So quickly spread. Assumptions become actions
[do not ask “why”]. Why some things are permitted to happen
Or some did not. In the absence of
Agreed terms; assumptions have been made. Assumption not understood
Or shared by the “other side” The result is chaos, the world tremors between
Nuclear war or ecological disaster, or whichever comes first. The battlelines
Are set between fascism and democracy. Does anyone understand the rules?
The fall of the USSR was celebrated; it unleashed its own demons
Across the world, helped set up Trump and Brexit.
That much I understood. Russia then started prodding
The pressure points and vulnerabilities of western democracies
I am reading this [book]
It fills me with dread
Stephen King could learn a lot
From the serpentine plots
Why the world’s going backwards
Why there are so many dying and dead
It’s not by accident; it’s by design
So our response is to act
To identify influences malign
And to counter them with facts.