Thursday 28 June 2018

Hunger


When the End came,
this final End,
we were biting at our nails,
chewing on our lips,
tugging at the memories of our mothers skirts,
waiting the safe embrace of our long-dead fathers.

Greed had long left us hungry,
famine had devoured us;
thirst had left us dry,
our bodies shrivelling under the sun.

Hunger, conflict had scorched this earth, robbing
men of their hearts and us of our future,
our mothers raped, tortured, killed,
left to desiccate on this barren land,
ghosts they became,
ghosts of what was,
ghosts of what is.

We became carrion feeders,
teeth tearing at the souls of the dead,
sating our hunger with flesh,
our teeth grinding on their bones,
the bones the flesh of our mothers our fathers,
our brothers our sisters,
our friends, of strangers, of enemies -
for in us is a will to survive,
a will to live.

When only the living remained
we ate each other
and we began to eat ourselves,
one hungry mouthful at a time.

There are other predators,
those who are stronger than us.
The dogs are the worse,
savage in their packs,
as savage as we have become,
maybe always were.. 

I think they will inherit this earth;
they have the teeth for it,
the hunger.

Anna :o]

Kerry at Real Toads has us writing Speculative Fiction and above is my offering. 

If I were one of the last survivors in this possible future world, the dogs would worry me very much, oh so very much…

Also shared with the good folk at Poets United.  Cheers for hosting Mary.


Image:  Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Source:  Wellcome Images

31 comments:

Fireblossom said...

It's a dogs life, under such circumstances. You've told us what has happened, and you start out with such strong immediate images, but after that there's a remove, a recitation of what has happened instead of putting the reader there. "Show don't tell" is an annoying cliche, but has some validity, too.

Sanaa Rizvi said...

My goodness you paint a very sombre and very real picture of circumstances our world might have to face if we are not careful. Powerful write.

tonispencer said...

I watched a pack of dogs tear a cat apart before I could rescue it. The tearing the dogs did put me in mind of that horror. I never thought of dogs inheriting the earth but you make a valid, frightening point for it.

Anmol (HA) said...

Oh, this is so grim, but fantastic in its portrayal of such grimness that may perchance be ahead of us towards the end. Haunting and powerful in equal measures, I really enjoyed it. Very well-penned.
-HA

Kerry O'Connor said...

This makes me shiver to read because we are closer to this kind of chaos than any of us might assume. Hunger, greed, dog eat dog, man eat man... what an inheritance this human existence has earned.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

"Greed had long left us hungry"....as it certainly will. Wow, that is a powerful line! I hope this isnt the future of mankind, but I see us on that trajectory.

Margaret said...

from our best friend to feared beast.... very gripping.

Jim said...

Dread and doom, awareness is needed by those who can help, soon, soon. But their pockets are lined with gold. Our hope is that eventually they'll wake up and find gold can't be eaten.
..

Jenny Woolf said...

A frightening prospect. I am selfishly glad that it is unlikely to be me. However, my bro in law who is a distinguished astronomer told me the other day that if something fairly small were to hit the earth we might have very little warning of it beforehand - but "fairly small" means large enough to annihilate a large city like London or Tokyo or New York. So as I understand it, it could happen next week, in theory. Eeek!

brudberg said...

I can feel the terror in this... the self-infliction we bring upon us. I think this might absolutely happen...and the teeth will inherit the earth

Magaly Guerrero said...

The repetition of the word ghost drills a whole through the nerves, especially after hearing of the huger, after seeing the teeth... after the words remind us that we are robbed our humanity, only instinct to survive--at any cost--is left, only wild hunger.

Jae Rose said...

stunning imagery

Romana Iorga said...

What a chilling ending, Anna! Love it. It rings true.
"I think they will inherit this earth;
they have the teeth for it,
the hunger."

brudberg said...

Loved to read it again Anna. Somehow I think your image could fit the theme of radiation as well.

Audrey Howitt aka Divalounger said...

A frightening vision--I once saw a series on TV called When Humans Become Extinct--or something like that--and dogs would survive just fine in that world I think

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Back for seconds.. such a powerfully written poem, Anna!

Gillena Cox said...

Greed breds hunger in every corner. A dark fiction well crafted. You left us biting at fingernails in dread

Thanks for dropping by my Sunday Standard today Anna

Much💞

Vivian Zems said...

So much terror here! I would be scared of everything...not just the dogs. This quote would bring me comfort"...tugging at the memories of our mothers skirts...". Well penned!

Mary said...

This is very chilling. We have long thought that we with our brains are rulers of the earth. I think, in the end, you are right. We will be destroyed by ourselves and 'dogs' of one kind or another; and it won't be pretty!

Truedessa said...

In the end there will be fighting claw and teeth and flesh...ugh..

Wendy Bourke said...

An intense - extremely impactful - somewhat allegorical (it seems to me) cautionary tale. The writing here, is brilliant - masterful, really.

ZQ said...

If this was metaphorical, it was incredible.
ZQ

Colleen Looseleaf said...

Chilling. A theme I've noticed today.

C. Sandlin said...

Frightening--from the first image visceral.

Thotpurge said...

and we began to eat ourselves,
one hungry mouthful at a time... dire prediction...still not hard to imagine it's where we're headed..

kaykuala said...

I think they will inherit this earth;
they have the teeth for it,

The dogs can cause damage in a wholesome way as they are able to work as a pack! No way one can survive alone!

Hank

Kim M. Russell said...

A scary dystopia, Anna. I don't want to be around when the end comes. Not only are packs of dogs scary but there would also be rats! There are some outstanding lines in this poem - I particularly admire:
'tugging at the memories of our mothers skirts,
waiting the safe embrace of our long-dead fathers'
and
'We became carrion feeders,
teeth tearing at the souls of the dead'.

Cressida de Nova said...

A touch of the Mad Max about this one.Never mind about the roaming dog packs I'm not looking forward to the carnage caused by driverless cars and transport.

Sarah Russell said...

You draw a picture I hope we never see. Very well done!

dsnake1 said...

you painted a grim picture of a possible future. man's best friend, driven by hunger, could just do that. with the rats, perhaps. they multiply so quickly. :(

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

A horror story, all the worse for being possible.