An elderly couple twisted around in their seats
to glare with mute disapproval upon the
disruptive hilarity of the teenagers
in the back of the theater.

Man's true nature was revealed when he replaced pure air,
clean water, and extensive old grow forests with
strip joints, strip malls, and strip mines.

Plastic cavalry soldiers scout the sweeping plains
of the blanket on the bed until a mountain range
is forced up by bent legs, and the riders are
trapped in a labyrinth of canyons
with no way out. 

Staring up from a crushed skull in a broken and
half devoured corpse, a grounded owl's
sightless eye looks into mine.

Lichen is the colorful spackle on the crumbling stone bench,
the crusty stucco coating branches in a brush pile,
and the vibrant texture on the living tree.

 

Humankind straddles the natural world defiantly,
just like obscene graffiti is boldly written across
the facade of a revered monument.