The sweet floral scent of blue lotus flowers, rides the night breeze,
Warm golden sands, are a soft powder under bare feet,
They rise gently upwards becoming domed dune peaks,
Beyond which lays a velvety black and star-studded sky,
As a full moon slumbers, vivid, white, and luminous,
Beams shimmer across the sands like glittering diamonds,
There is a calming silence, it provides a sense of distance,
From the constant whispering call of the ocean of dreams,
This dreamscape is safe, here the sleeper can walk freely,
This realm is for the hurt, the weary, and the broken,
Its misty confines offer protection, a private place to heal,
So sleep now, and awaken healed, replenished, in the morning sun.
Mindstorm
The clouds are clearing from my mind this morning,
I have been lost, in what felt like a sandstorm,
Walking blindly, poorly attempting to protect myself,
Rather than find shelter, I have pressed forward,
Sadly to my own detriment, but that storm is passing,
My mind is a little clearer, and I can see with some clarity,
So now, for the sake of my mind, I am taking shelter,
It took a week for the turbulent seas of my mind to calm,
Unfortunately, that stillness arrives in time for another storm,
Work and personal related stress, anxiety, self-worth,
The perfect storm that we can all easily get lost in,
Getting to the other side without damage, is a challenge,
I don’t like the night, disturbed is an apt word for my dreamtime,
With each new morning, I can breathe, I can take stock,
And I can continue this journey I am on.
Drifting
I can feel myself slowly drifting into unease,
As autumn colour broadens its embrace,
The landscape shifts, trees become skeletal,
Lawns are covered in a blanket of the fallen dead,
Cold mornings arrive, giving way to brilliant sunshine,
While cold nights invoke a fear of the coming winter,
The impending solitude and confinement weigh heavy,
Seasonal inertia creeps, with a deathlike silence,
The state of mind the ice season brings is sobering,
A time when the elderly pass, and the young suffer,
Winter brings fat billionaires, rubbing their grotesque trotters,
While all hibernate to survive, until the next change of season.
Pedestrian 32549
The streets are dark and desolate at this time of morning,
The cold wind whips up dust and discarded plastic,
A street pumper hovers into place, and dirty yellow hoses are ejected,
Ground bolts secure the pumper as it empties its tank,
The dirty, pale, unshaven operator puffs vape smoke,
A dim white light from inside a visor, illuminates his bearded face,
The operator stares emotionless at a passer-by,
The blue glow of the walker’s umbrella cane is distracting,
Blue light reflects in the puddles and on wet window glass,
Clad in a long unassuming black coat, the pedestrian walks on,
Passing beneath the super structure of a building, and into a lane,
Posters of desperation and entertainment combine, covering the walls,
Phosphorescent kanji graffiti adds a glowing additional layer to the path,
A narrow slit of white light, and construction waste lines the pavement,
Rain puddles, provide shimmering beauty amongst the chaos,
Sudden colourful bursts of neon advertising buzz and alternate,
Reflecting in the dark glasses and on the expressionless face,
Stepping out of the lane onto the main street, the walker waits,
As two teen punks on illuminated hover scooters zip past silently,
Crossing the street and back into the shadows, the journey soon ends,
At a large black metal door, unlike the walls, it is graffiti free,
Wind momentarily shifts the pedestrian’s coat, revealing weaponry,
Dark glasses are lifted, a red retinal scanner beam confirms entry,
A display reads, é»’ Kuro Syndicate member 32549 entry granted.
The door unlocks, opens, and a new workday begins.
*Excerpt from 'Infinite Black: A Grey New World'.
Grove Zero (Central City)
In this metropolis the sky is made of constant rain-soaked night,
Reflecting neon, shines in puddles and on pale weary faces,
The city streets are crowded, as people escape cell-like apartments,
Some shelter under awnings, or huddle, begging in doorways,
Many face the rain beneath illuminated umbrellas, or dark hoods,
People are the landscape, they pack pedestrian bridges and fill arcades,
They shout from balconies above, fighting to be heard,
Shady deals are made in the sprawling city’s dark corners,
Under skyscrapers covered in illuminated signage that pierce the clouds,
The narrow street markets burst at the seams offering their wares,
What you can’t afford to buy, you must trade to obtain, or steal,
Becoming overwhelmed is easy, commercials float in the sky,
Digital advertising, posters, speakers, announcements, music, sirens,
A million plus sounds all echoing at once,
The darkness delivers exceptional sensory bombardment,
City stench is pungent, street cooking combines with vehicle fumes,
Litter lines the streets, stirred by slow ineffective street sweeping vehicles,
Busy crossings speak and beep, police with LED batons direct traffic,
There’s nothing you can’t get here on the black market, crime is rife,
Life here is sickening, unemployment is high, and desperation fills the air,
There are red-light districts, body modification districts, and worse,
Everybody here is hustling just to stay alive, this city eats people up,
Homeless die silently in alleyways, addicts overdose on pavements,
It’s one of the last remaining fully intact cities following the machine war,
This is Grove Zero (G0), Central City, the murderous heart of the new colony.
*Excerpt from 'Infinite Black: A Grey New World'.
The Grey New World
Dusk falls on a tired dusty rural landscape,
The long shadows of the late afternoon have faded to grey,
In the distance, bright city lights flicker to life, lighting up the sky,
The distant volume of Central City’s chaos rises to a murmur,
There is a comfort to be being isolated, distant from humanity,
Away from the energy, constant sound, and movement of the city,
Tech still fills this rural space, but it is subtle, used where needed,
Out here it is functionality over convenience, tech for survival only,
No unnecessary body mods, or implants, some city escapees do have them,
But out here they are few and far between, chop-shops are a city thing,
Grove 18, or G18, is some distance from the hot spot of Central City (G0),
Since the war, most people are cautious of machines, however,
Salvaged tech has been repurposed, constructive rather than destructive,
Varieties of hover vehicles have replaced the wheels and tires of old,
Important, considering the surviving roads are overgrown and damaged,
Raider crews on hov bikes can be a threat to farming communities,
But the Syndicates keep them in check, for a price, a cut of your proceeds,
But, don’t pay your Syndicate, your property burns,
Or worse, you and your family are deleted,
Aside the turmoil, nature still exists, savage and beautifully untameable,
Forests reclaim dead townships, creating new habitats and secrets,
The grey new world is brutal and unfair, but that is the way of all things now.
Beyond my machine world the Infinite Black, exists 'A Grey New World', a dystopian future set following the war with the machine hellworld as outlined in my art series, and book I co-created with Jeff Oliver.
I have been (very) slowly fleshing out all aspects of this new post apocalyptic world for a while now, and I will continue to release parts of it here. The final product will consist of poetry, art and short stories.
Megacity Morning
As twilight fades, a new day begins,
This vast metropolis never sleeps, however,
A voice awakens inside a pod, activating the lighting,
A gentle white light illuminates the chamber,
The sleeper stretches, then requests coffee,
A glass emerges from a countertop flap and fills,
They rub their eyes as the outer window shutter raises,
And a glistening cityscape is revealed as they drink,
Breakfast consists of synthetic fruits and oatmeal,
Morning ablutions are brief and efficient,
Once clothed, they head out into bright morning sun,
Voice activation secures the apartment pod as they exit,
And they step out into the shadows of Megacity skyscrapers.
World Thirteen
Welcome to the future, where clocks now strike thirteen,
Individualism is no longer celebrated,
That human condition has been politically corrected,
One central government keeps humanity in stasis,
One totalitarian leader wields blind control,
Sprawling interconnected megacities rise,
Tech controls the nihilistic mindset of a dead generation,
People disappear by night without warning,
Artists, journalists, writers, free thinkers,
Lives are deleted as the world embraces sterility,
Psychological pharmaceuticals are outlawed,
Desperation fills crowded dystopian city streets,
Populations sleep in instability, controlled by fear,
Supervised, manipulated, punished,
This is not the promised bright new world,
This is despotism,
This is now.
Jettisoned
I feel like I have been jettisoned,
Newly arriving on an alien landscape,
Here, beings exist that are not of my make,
They behave in a confusing manner,
Their language is untranslatable,
Their beliefs, the opposite of my own,
It is as though each being is a planet,
All squeezed into one tiny galaxy,
With no room for expansion,
No space for personal expression,
No room for creativity,
There is no place for your opinion here,
There is no silence, it is deafeningly loud,
Life is like closing my eyes while watching a movie,
And it rolls on regardless,
This, is now.
The New Age of Revulsion
The world feels like it’s on fire,
Greed and stupidity pollute the air,
People suffer the reign of megalomaniacal pigs,
Morally corrupt child-adults influence and advise,
Disrespect and violence grow from desperation,
The stink of self-entitlement bites at the nostrils,
All beauty on Earth is violated by materialistic hunger,
Bigotry and self-indulgence are the new faith,
The new age of revulsion has begun,
Self-immolation is technologically delivered,
Mankind’s final act has been scripted and is in play,
A dystopia is birthed, screaming and untethered,
From this point there is no way back.
Dan Verkys 