Alt Text:
a road busy with traffic and large skyscrapers stand behind a couple of trees.
Backstory:
Waking With Wilderness is somewhat a cry for less brick, metal, and glass, and more trees, flowers, and nature. Some countries have found the perfect balance of nature vs. residential living. However, the view (as I experienced it) in New York City shows the imbalance in many areas with a heavy lean on a lack of nature.
The imbalance, though pleasant for some, can be jarring for others. Humans and creatures alike have had to adapt to survive in the city landscape. Even though the layouts are typically designed in a fashion that's fantastic for businesses and apartment living, the areas can prove particularly cold and lonesome for those who thrive on a touch of countryside.
I tried to capture the pros and cons of city living in my poem, haunted by the story of a woman that must have suffered terribly to commit suicide by throwing herself down a tall building's trash chute. Hence my poem cautions on living in an overly robotic, electrical, and industrial dependent world. I doubt any wilderness, city or otherwise, will make for a decent future, but thankfully what's to come isn't set in stone. I look forward to the day cities around the world embrace more of a solarpunk aesthetic and greater compassion within each building's society.
Life is buzzing in the jungle city,
Where the mechanical birds fly overhead,
And the machines roar throughout the afternoon.
Brick trees cast their rectangular shadows
As the wind darts passed the winding streets.
The silent railway beasts rattle softly,
Following their electrical lines.
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Waves of clunkers and land yachts occupy the roads,
On their way to endless destinations.
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The chitter-chatter of human life
And twitter-tweet of the jungle city's pigeons
Fills the humid air with sound.
So much noise in what must have been a deafening sea,
For even the land here was built by man.
There is no escape,
Behind a four-walled cave,
For the electronics hum to dancing particle waves.
What was once open and free,
Moving slow and quiet,
Is condensed and constricted,
Racing with great noise at Mach-speeds.
As the heat bakes rooftops and tar lanes,
Winter hibernation is long forgotten,
And once again there is life all around.
So the day begins with Spring,
Without a cloud in the sky,
And the sun to set later at night.
It is good to see some nature exists in our robot world,
For if it did not,
I fear many more lost,
In this city jungle world.