When the Cave Sheltered Men and Women

they take it bloody
rare as the cave meat
drained for art work
pressed petals for signs
of a holy aesthetic
the rambling antelope
saber-toothed generals
of the plains
tearing with pride
painted on walls

yet today they are
lounge lizards, boys
old with economics
girls lifted by Botox
old people jump-jaxing
on trampolines
towed by Winnebago

we pile mountains of trash
in caves, spray crevices
with shotgun blasts
clouds of new toxins
fear . . . some Live at Five
report of bat with
rabies, found . . . there is a run
on 12- gauge small shot
sticks of M-80s
just a blast or two
kills echolocation

we render our children’s
grandkids for today’s
big hedge, fund our
cruise missiles and Disney
cruises with plastics
a goo that is now wrapped
in body Electra, fusion
and fission, the heavy
water of tears left
for a half life
beyond extinction

when will the masters
of universes feed their
feudal families to the
lions of cyber prides
drape their own dead
with stitched-together
denominations
colorful parrots in some
fanciful pudgy generals
in others?

they are not Neanderthal,
just credit card Olympians
swizzle sticks the shape
of pythons, we broken
scattered fecal tribes
pushing mice around
screens sutured
into forearms

the hunt and fire
cracked jokes
icicles that are
cathedrals of some
survival story, we waited
in caves for Jet Streams
waited for live at five
navel gazing
waited for freeze dried
bison and mammoth
waited for signals from
space, skin-stretched
gods in motion pictures

we waited for progress
the cave to turn into
formaldehyde huts
microwaveable munchies
endless You Tube pet
tricks, the pornography
of sports, war games
joy sticks the spears
of ancients

Paul Haeder's been a teacher, social worker, newspaperman, environmental activist, and marginalized muckraker, union organizer. Paul's book, Reimagining Sanity: Voices Beyond the Echo Chamber (2016), looks at 10 years (now going on 17 years) of his writing at Dissident Voice. Read his musings at LA Progressive. Read (purchase) his short story collection, Wide Open Eyes: Surfacing from Vietnam now out, published by Cirque Journal. Here's his Amazon page with more published work Amazon. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.