PETROL-LUST: Reflections on the Gospel of Greed

Beneath the loam, the obsidian petrol ichor murmurs, 
seductive hymns to the disciples of Mammon, chanting:

Let's burn bright and become polycarbon flames, 
roaming asphalt arteries and coursing through the night; 
cash is our conscience 'n black gold shines bright!

Consider the bounty: empires built on stolen soil, 
tapped and by titans ah industry til they suck it dry.

Don't you lust for more?
Consult the high priests of commerce to witness the alchemy: 
Turning oil-slicks into gold nuggets.

Don't listen to environmental weirdos,- 
tree-huggers with hand-painted signs,
or eccentric eco-hermits voicing high-sounding pleas.

Rely instead on our corporate clinical guile 
to hollow out the hills so your coffers overflow.

We'll employ a expert team ah scientists 
who know Babylon's needs.

They speak the dialect of His High Hunger fluently: 
to His ravenous desires, we must accede.

We're in the business ah building futures - 
'n luv Mother Earth too.

Prosperity is an American custom,
so sign this Contract now!
  

Terri set down her coffee, porcelain clicking softly, the poem's final line still hanging in the air like smoke. 
"Petrol-lust," she said, letting the word linger, sour on her tongue. "It's fueled a century of geopolitics, 
toppled governments, started wars. And we're still addicted. Aren't we a species defined by our cravings?"

Kris leaned back in his chair, folding across his chest, a grim half-smile tugging at his mouth. 
"Yeah, it seems that the dealer's running out of product. That old dream's dying—we're just too strung out to admit it yet."

"Lust for anything invites suffering." Tim added in a low, unadorned voice. 
It seemed as if he carried the weight of someone who has watched the same error replay 
itself too many times. "We've got to learn to live more modestly. Not because it's noble, 
but it is the only viable survival tactic. We can't afford the excesses of the past."

Ted raised an eyebrow, his skepticism barely concealed. "You think we're disciplined 
enough for that? Can we choose restraint over excess?" A short laugh escaped from his
throat, brittle, humorless.  "We've never been good at saying no to ourselves."


=================================================================================
from _AmeriSong: Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Amerika_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY:  Some thoughts about humanity’s destructive addiction to fossil-fuel, 
          questioning the greed, deception, and violence that sustain it.
KEYWORDS: petrol-politics, petroleum addiction, environmental rape, ecological travesties, 
          corporate greed, eco-satire, petroleum industry critique, environmental 
          exploitation, fossil fuel dependency, climate change awakening, sustainable living necessity

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955)
Begun: 2005 in Tokyo, Japan / Finished: 2025 in Shizuoka, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

Disclosure: This piece was partially generated using AI tools for styling and ideation; 
            human editing was then applied.

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