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Sophisticated Stupidity
Preserve the fish, defend the trees
_And save the wilting daisies;
Protect the coral in the seas
_But kill the unborn babies.
Such is the logic on display
By science “experts” of today.
Recycle and conserve the earth
_For future generations,
Prevent environmental dearth—
_What pious aspirations!
Yet underneath the verbal frills,
We see extorted dollar bills.
Maintain your space and wear a mask
_Like terrorists of ISIS,
And so evade the vicious grasp
_Of some invented virus.
It begs the question, “Could this be
A global test of sanity?”
The world’s elite who have combined
_With thieving, corporate giants,
Conceal their sinister designs
_Beneath a cloak of science;
And hide their greed, deceit, and lies
Beneath a virtuous disguise.
They say climatic atrophy
_And nature’s degradation
Are caused by man’s complicity
_And overpopulation.
They say our numbers must subside
If Mother Earth is to survive.
We say to them, “The facts expose
_The guise of your exterior.
You wish to rid the earth of those
_Whose worth you deem inferior,
So you can hoard the planet’s wealth
And save its bounty for yourself.”
We ask of you who typify
_Such scientific “wisdom”:
“Supposing half of us must die
_To save the eco-system,
We wish to know, if this is true,
Why we could not begin with you?”
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A Gen-Z Catastrophe
Double click and the duo has digitally met
_With emojis and selfies exchanged.
The formalities over, the hour is set—
_His excitement just can’t be restrained!
As he vibes to a beat with his Labrador puppy,
He is flattered and charmed by his feelings so fluffy,
_To embark on a voyage of dreams,
_Where he’s waylaid by fabulous scenes
That encompass a blitzkrieg of lovey and dovey!
From his razor-sharp cut to his well-polished Stacys—
Like a model who stepped from his photo at Macy’s—
_Like a twenty-first-century swain
_He has all that you’d picture as game,
As he rolls down the block in his tinted Mercedes.
From her pedicured toes to her hairdo so gaudy—
With Kardashian fashion adorning her body,
_She exhibits an image of best
_That could almost seduce Kanye West,
If he just got a glimpse of her pink Maserati.
At a downtown café that is known for its pasta,
For the very first time Rigo lays eyes on Tonya.
_Over drinks at a table for two,
_His desires begin to debut
As he eats his linguini and she, her lasagna.
As the dialogue switches from this then to that,
He has only one thought that I’ll promptly recap;
He is hoping the evening’s events will progress
As fast as the previous minutes of text.
In a five-star hotel they entrench themselves finally;
An erotic finale seems ever so likely,
_So he hurriedly stretches his hips
_After flexing the curves of his lips,
To prepare for the play he’s perfected so nicely.
Oh, the thrills as he chases the lead of his urges!
Until—oh what a shock, as he liberally splurges!
_From the ruins of cover-girl paste,
_In the place of the manicured face—
A pimpled and dimpled cartooness emerges.
Now if this was the worst, let him graciously suffer,
But his ill-favored fortune gets tragically rougher;
_For concealed at the belt of his date,
_He discovers, a little too late,
All the hardware that’s found on a masculine lover.
With his fantasies shattered our poor fellow Rigo—
Quite depressed with a mangled and dismembered ego—
_Makes a Superman leap from the scene;
_And like Spiderman getting off clean,
Out the five-story window, he dives with a bingo.
The results of his plunge we will not here rehearse,
_But prevention perhaps as is said,
Is a far better cure than the square foot of earth,
_That encountered his ill-fated head.
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James Bontrager was born and raised near the rural town of Bonduel, Wisconsin. He currently lives in Ontario, California. He is part of one of several project management teams that works for a construction company. Very recently he published a book of his poetry through the Hustlin’ Backwards Entertainment organization.
Expertly and savagely done! The many half-rhymes make me think this would be especially effective as a song lyric. More, please!
The “Sophisticated Stupidity” poem is an excellent encapsulation of the significant stupidity along with the self-indulgent falsification of science in the interests of profiting from the causes It concludes with the perfect question at the end after some great lines of exposition. “A Gen-Z Catastrophe” was an intriguing poem that tickled me and fits well with one I recently wrote.
What an excellent pair of poems, James. The 1st disturbingly on point – the 2nd an absolute riot. With the remarkable advances in bodily-reconfiguring I can easily see where this happens more often than most would suspect. It’s gettin’ damn hard to tell! Several clever rhymes, and a fairly tricky rhyme-scheme in a piece of that length in, my favorite – ‘A Gen-Z Catastrophe’. Great job.
I’m glad you enjoyed these, Mark. I had a lot of fun writing them.
“Sophisticated Stupidity” is right on target — much “environmentalism” is merely a modern version of the medieval “right of the forest,” which kept peasants and other non-nobles out of woodlands where the nobility hunted. The starving poor were not allowed to kill any wild animals from the forest, nor were they permitted to gather fallen wood for their fires, except “by hook or crook” — that is, by using a very long hooked stick or pole to drag out whatever fallen branches they could reach.
Developed nations telling smaller and poorer nations that they cannot use their natural resources except in ways that we dictate to them represents the very same arrogance. Environmentalism is simply the rich telling the poor to “keep off our grass.”
As for “A Gen-Z Catastrophe,” today’s madhouse of sexual confusion makes the narrative seem quite plausible rather than fanciful. Men need to be very careful about what’s between the legs of the persons they date. Appearance and clothing are no longer dependable guides.
A world of wit you are, James. Very much to the sharpest of points in “Sophisticated Stupidity.” And “Gen-Z” is the funniest catastrophe of current colloquial comedy I can imagine. Too bad Hollywood might not appreciate the humor, because a reading of your work is show business itself. A little dark at the end of both pieces, but that is appropriate for the times as well.
We have failed the global test of sanity. Thank you for pointing it out so artfully.
James, you’re a poet after my own heart and I thank you for this superb satirical duo. Satire is challenging. Where this genre is concerned, I believe that beauty is key to revealing a message that delivers truth. The beauty lies in the craftmanship, and these poems are beautiful. Thank you!