Good Mourning!

What would we be

Without loss,

Without misery.

To appreciate the sun

All of its power

and its light-

Would be impossible

To see

Without the dark

Deep in the night.

To paint without black,

or use a palette of just white

Would be a life less of battle,

Less of passion-

Of course you’ve lost sight.

A world without

every color,

Don’t you see?

Would exist without any

Comparable degree.

Living can only

be measured this way

Like the stars in the night

and the beauty of today

Where we would be,

don't you see-

Is in a world without depth

A world without poetry.

Although a mourning heart

seems almost

impossible to bare

It is here

Where life spurs

Out of our greatest despair.

- Kelly Wiman

Planting a seed, without routine, leaves no one to feed.

Science agrees, the lazy refuses the fees.

In a world where everyone is alike, you find no individuality, no reference from which to compare. There is no dissimilarity to distinguish one person from the next. One skin pigment, one language, and everyone answers to their own one-syllable surname. Embryo development is restricted without random probability to the same genetic makeup; a single DNA code with identical exposure to the environment and nutritional influence, whether or not that influence manifests inside the womb. There is a single chemical marker with no unique human characteristic. One set of fingerprints; one distinct set of footprints. From the day of birth, every person in this world is congregated into a monochromatic community. Gray is the only color not forbidden. Allegiance to the preservation of one Order is the culture. Originality is futile. Freedom is a meritless expression without definition. Individualistic utterances are outlawed. No evidence exists that anyone is treated differently, rather, everyone and everything is a reproduction—a mirror image, a clone. Cognitive processes are a perversion not tolerated. Taught is a single viewpoint about life and how it must be lived. Teachings discourage critical ideas or opinions. Education is drawn solely from the pages of a unique book presided over by the Leader. Single-mindedness controls policymaking. Obedience to the prevailing rule of law is compulsory. Media is a collective noun deprived of intellect; it communicates using one channel; one call letter, with technology to broadcast the same message every day for one hour. Static is the only emotion. Sex occurs for procreation scheduled only once a year. Spontaneity and genius are banned for the collective good. There is one model religion and one faith. There is a single marketplace to obtain the same ration of food, a liter of water, the same clothing to wear, and to receive the lone standard of grooming. People congregate to eat together and sleep at an agricultural cooperative overseen by the Order. Whether food or activity, both must be certified as officially acceptable. Meals and accommodations do not vary among the masses. Every person owns one blanket equivalent in size, texture, and capability; everyone drinks from an identical tin cup. Libraries and universities are replaced by single-story complexes where a person preauthorized to travel can temporarily lodge for one night. People walk at the same pace; no one acts in a hurry; no one stops to look up. There is no clock, no timepiece to remind a person she is early or he is late. There is no music to compose or play, no melody to hear, no song to sing or inspire dance. No one knows how to tell a story, much less recite a nursery rhyme. Only memories from the prior day exist. There is no such thing as a couple—it is strictly forbidden, and the future is limited to one day at a time. People are born, age organically, and then die. This is the natural course of things, without deviation. There is no illness to treat because when it is diagnosed, the stricken is immediately removed from society, and then relocated where the expectation is they will expire alone. There is no ceremony to mourn their passing or final respects to pay. Contempt for these laws is not tolerated. Noncompliance results in the accused’s immediate execution or banishment to a dark place underground where their flesh and bone are reduced to an ecological state. Acknowledgment of their existence is then eradicated in unification with the Order’s precepts. Paramount is the sustainment of an orderly society that punishes dissentients, denies maleficence, and proclaims “The World Order is Love.”

©2023 Bill Canepa

I started a routine years ago,

That routine became my life,

Days and days of the same old thing; and confusion if one thing is out of place,

It kept me sane most of the time,

Reminding me that not all things need to change,

But time goes on and time changes,

The seconds, minutes, hours, days, all becoming something new,

And even thought my routine didn’t change,

I did,

It began to not work but I ignored the pain,

Wanting to keep something in this changing world the same,

I became mad; crazy,

Holding on to the last strands of same,

And eventually I sank into the craziness that is this world,

Faded into something less,

And became the routine,

Living each day the same with never anything new.