Metaphor, Defining and Redefining Human Nature OR The Landscape of Anxiety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Now, life is relatively short and time very precious. We are all in it together, all with the same responsibility to keep our streets clean and free of litter. I look around sometimes at the rubbish on our streets and am brought close to tears for witnessing so much human waste, thoughtlessness and disrespect for the safety and well-being of others ...

The old saying is so true. A little thought really does go a long way, especially during these difficult times as the Covid-19 virus continues to spread around the world.

"There is a strange interdependence between thoughtlessness and evil". - Hannah Arendt

“Carelessness does more harm than a want of knowledge.” – Benjamin Franklin

“A metaphor is not an ornament. It is an organ of perception. Through metaphors, we see the world as one thing or another.” ― Neil Postman

METAPHOR, DEFINING & REDEFINING  HUMAN NATURE or THE  LANDSCAPE OF ANXIETY

Orange peel in the gutter, apt comment

on most human failings

Bird droppings, metaphors for nature's 

perspective on humanity

Dog poop, left by animal lovers without

a thought for anyone else

Celebrity snappers vying to get one over

on the more popular press

Images ripped from newspapers, flapping

like manifestos at elections

Bounty hunters, tracking our every move

on social media databases

Raindrops, Earth Mother's tears for death
on the streets, hate crime...

Blood stains, graffiti on a Wall of Silence

("Well, it wasn't me, guv ..."

Orange peel in the gutter, poet's testament 

to a growing sense of anxiety

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2016

[Note: A earlier version of this poem under the title 'Waste' first appeared in CC&D poetry magazine, Scars Publications (US) v 191, 2008 and subsequently in On the Battlefields Of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]