When the last redneck Republican
realises his true enemy
and stirs with his Democrat neighbour
the great melting pot of
red and blue to an unroyal purple
When an eighty-year-old
Israeli and Palestinian
jointly place the last skull in the
Nakba-Holocaust Ossiary Memorial
and agree to share a country
When single use plastic is abhorred
and the use of oil for
virgin plastic rationed
and whole towns comb their beach
for plastic to recycle
When the last billionaire
gives away his last coin
to the last poor person
weeping as he is
buoyed by sheer relief
When global warming is stabilised
and the last bird species
threatened with extinction
breeds the first nest of
the rest of their species
When the last petrol head
learns to love the glint of
sunlight on windmill blades
and drives off in a small electric car
which is no fashion or status symbol
When the last piece of
the fractured world
is fitted into place – fastened
with a seam of shining gold
and balanced once again
When…
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Mish in Poetics invites us to write about “Building from the Broken” which could be a reference to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which a broken piece of porcelain is mended with a glue containing powdered gold resulting in a new and enhanced aesthetic…
A fun response to the prompt…
Thanks Judy, glad you enjoyed it…
I like this one a lot.
Me too…
Excellent take!
Well it’s a wish list I suppose Reena…
This is a wonderful poem. I hope all these scenarios come true and we, the people rejoice and celebrate.
I don’t hold out much hope Sadje but at least it’s a target to dream about…
Very true my friend. It is utopia but we can dream.
I believe you are dreaming of Utopia, Andrew. We must not lose sight of our dreams!
Well done! Great questions for all of us!
Defining a Utopia is defining what is wrong with the world as it is Dwight…
If only…
You got it in two words Kim…
Response is the same as Kim’s.
It’s a sad poem because it seems so impossible.
It is sad Merril but it feels necessary to keep delineating the flaws in our world and I fear it will take more than kintsugi to improve it…
This sounds too much like utopia…. too much to grab for those with lots already.
Great read – and good work on the butter dish I have one just like it – well, not now – yours looks better 😄
Thanks AJ, I wish it wasn’t necessary to find novel ways of pointing out what is wrong with the world but, the times we live in…
If we can dream it, we can build it. I wonder what our problem is. 😒
“If only” …love this springboard for a poem.
Greed, hubris, short-sightedness (not in my lifetime – What do you mean – what about the grandchildren) hard to topple Mish…
When and if only, we can be dreamers and see a better world.
Yes indeed Grace
Fabulous write, Andrew.
So….. when?
Thanks Shaun – sometimes painting a Utopian picture is just a way of depicting what’s wrong with the world…