Being Crude

"In a thousand years
all the soldiers of this war
will come back as oil"

                -Haiku / senryu by Charles Ellik

With special shout-outs to The National Poetry Slam's Team Chicago-Mental Graffiti 2008, (Alvin Lau, Billy Tuggle, Tristan Silverman, K. Krown, and Dan Sully) for their friendship and inspiration via their group piece "On Being Water"


Being Crude
Copyright © 2008 By Curtis Meyer

I was born of darkness,
and thus darkness I became

I am known by many names - Black Gold, Texas Tea -
A composite ghost of all human history ground up into liquid shadow
When Mother Nature cries, I am the mucus in her throat

So save me your crude remarks - pun intended
You, who curse me while I grease the feathers
of your shorebirds and fur of marine mammals;
Your tycoons all but suck me dripping off their fingers
like mother's milk, fresh cider, sap from The Tree of Knowledge

You walk across my back all day,
surface me gurgling from your rigs,
cage me in drums, pipelines, and pumps
Know I will not be contained - I who come from fire
I course through the veins of the phoenix
From my bubbles: The foundations of your progress

    -Ladders of society made from bones
    -Cities built on the skeletons of rivals
    -Ocean floors drilled
    -Dreams fulfilled

I spill to build
I was built to spill

I have been here before you;
watched all your lively subcultures
and petty holocausts

Speak not to me of water - we get along just fine
so long as it doesn’t forget its place: Beneath me
Make no mistake, I was made to rise

Speak not me of the soul-
I am what flesh knows of purgatory;
Gaze upon me and face your future reflection as fertilizer

I am the remains of dinosaurs, your great-grandparents
My blood cells: The corpses of trilobites and extinct ferns
My skin: Minerals recycled, dust inhaled from the dawn of time

Tell me dirt and grime serve no place in sanitation
when I thrive in your detergents, the glycerin in your toothpaste,
the body and nylon bristles of your toothbrush   

I remember my darkness was used to light your lanterns -
How ironic that the lightning you harness
be deemed unworthy of your cars
How poetic that you race towards tomorrow
on the ashes of your ancestors

Tell me you've never made a deal
with the devil when your vehicles
run on the soup of Hell

I am the great equalizer
All colors mix into black upon my canvas
It is I who turns your blood against itself,
yet you squander me for your petroleum products,
your precious paints, plastics, and fossil fuels

Speak not to me of water-
I am thicker than blood

You, who cling to your weapons,
who claim to not fear death, to know no retreat,
who die so that others may baptize themselves in my body
    - eventually your own -
what makes you think you can outrun destiny?

    Tell me, what makes you think you’re slicker than me?