Malled
The Disney dream is a lie. Bambi has been rewritten.
No longer is it the danger of flames and firearms. It's crossing
a four lane highway and being trapped against a median.
A warm blood Flower streaked by the wipers of a Humvee.
The roads are littered with animal parts
scattered like pummeled puzzle pieces.
Turkey vultures claim their day — an overkill of death —
their feathers defying the cars zipping by.
Displaced crows pepper the sky above Walmart
soaring around the naked tree branches or
feeding off discarded fast-food French fries.
Their guttural caws — thick with resignation — trumpet the air.
Woodland creatures claim a piece of their space
that has been replaced with snow-specked cement,
white-washed fences and air-pumped Christmas
decorations big as the SUV sentries standing guard.
that has been replaced with snow-specked cement,
white-washed fences and air-pumped Christmas
decorations big as the SUV sentries standing guard.
We have raped the land. Stolen the forest
and rebuilt it with doors and bay windows.
and rebuilt it with doors and bay windows.
We have given the mountains a mastectomy.
Condos and spoiled children sprout up like mushrooms.
Fungus much too wild, too rich, and much too toxic to the touch.
— Robert P. Langdon
Poem copyright Robert P. Langdon from the book The Candied Road Ahead: Poems & Stories.
Poem may not be used, in any part, without permission of Robert P. Langdon
“The Disney dream is a lie”
Mixed Media
11.9” x 9”
Artwork inspired by the poem Malled
Artwork copyright Michelle Greco. Image may not be used without the permission of Michelle Greco.
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