“The World Has Ended”

“The World Has Ended”

Leilani Riahi

– Artist’s Website –
“The World Has Ended” by Leilani Riahi

May 1, 2016

Loosely inspired by The Ecosocialist Manifesto

The Apocalypse
is outside
violating lovely worlds
boom
but the breeze keeps a steady beat
crash
but the ocean smells like the same mix of salt and oil
ouch
but there was always tar on our feet
bam
but it always gets this windy close to June
scream
but that’s just someone drinking alcohol
it hurts
but you probably are just stressed
It’s hard to breathe
maybe you should do some yoga?
Why does the water taste like sewage?
it’s all in your head
but there’s mold on our shower walls?
It can’t hurt you, it’s natural!
Why are the cliffs collapsing?
Because, nature!
Why are IV community members houseless?
Maybe they need to get more jobs
Why are corporations replacing local businesses?
They lived up to the American Dream, they work hard!
Why is gentrification targeting people of color?
This is America, there is no targeting of peoples based on their racial classifications!
Are families living in IV safe?
Yeah, we are so lucky to have so many cops everywhere!
Are the cops bilingual though?
What, this is America! get out of here
Seriously, you whiny brat. Try to find a better life in another place. Just, try!

While the world is screaming

this theater is your shelter
where education can help us revolt
ring
eco-socialism is the call
hello
here is the response
you in a seat
and they next to you
because
just talking about destroying capitalism
IS going to destroy capitalism
and ecosocialism is the systematic
response
outside of capital evil mess
where nothing but money is valued
not even a pulse
not even a love
or a tree
a child
a mother
a grandpa
black, brown bodies definitely not
you are fighting together

ecosocialism

combining democracy and socialism
where people are delegated power equally to govern
to restore
to prevent
to heal and grow and make and sustain
and share and live and breathe well
and be equal in resources

it’s not about ego
the current systems of oppression must crumble

keep talking
keep going..
but wait
Why are there cameras here?

We will keep going
and hopefully
the walls aren’t heard
and government doesn’t make you wish
you were a corporate sell-out, too
if they haven’t already targeted your marginalized peoples
because then or
because now, for some
feeling depth of environmental justice
outside their grave
is worse than hell

hell is real
if we are all to disband
before the movement becomes worldly
so
quick
let go of judgments
racism
sexism
homophobias
stigmas
hate
quick
quick
we need this to be deep
deeply letting go of hate
but now
because they are trying to infiltrate our efforts to unionize
and demand social justice

don’t let your
your grave become a universal grave
where human consciousness is suffocated in an intoxicated body
made to burn while still alive
because they do want us to burn

but only a burning into each other under the fire of desire
for all to aspire and thrive
will light our souls on caring fire
until we rebirth

rebirth rebirth rebirth
you whisper

if you have to die
for all of us
to rise
sacrifice is good

I want to live again
I want them to live for the first time
rebirth rebirth rebirth

Some have already been destroyed
based on institutionalized systems of oppression
but today
you still have a pulse
if you still have a pulse…
fight one pulse of
all of us

the apocalypse
is
now
and future you
your body as grave
violent decay
unjust warfare
stripping of souls
thrown down toxic waste corporations
where waste lands cannot even live
where lands without waste is a distant fantasy
one cannot remember if land ever was
they tell you to hush before bed
if you have an image of a better place
plants
animals
humans hugging
where love and life are one
land is not realistic
they tell you
war as injustice anywhere
calculated deaths
quotas to fill
drugs to plant
spewing machinery over human life
but you see it
you tell them
you see this in a memory
but the lead in your brain
makes them deem you as
illegitimate
your thoughts are just far out disruptions
to the corporate flow of apocalypse
capitalism makes you wear a suit to work
and leave the lead in your brain
until they bury you, too
there are robots for that now
to bury people
they just wait around like dementors
but the dark magic is winning in this story

the end of the world
was predicted by indigenous peoples
at the start of colonization
when natives were erased as native tenders of life
into euro-centric ideologies of violence
savages
they were called
barbaric
monsters
now marginalized communities
and it’s harder for them to breathe
it’s harder for us to breathe when it’s harder for them to breathe
marginalized peoples
indigenous
natives
must lead this revolution, if so willing
all of us must help
so Mama Nature and nature in us
has another chance

today
Mama Nature cannot breathe with
blood in her lungs
and broken bones where she sleeps
she’s had too many restless, painful nights and days
and she is depressed
corporate world doesn’t want her to live
capitalism is trying to kill her
and some days she doesn’t want to keep fighting
she’s tired
but we can help her feel better
we can make her happy again

it’s 2016 the world has ended
an alien invasion has inhabited our land
and when you see money
and stocks
and war
and guns
and oppression
it’s because the world has already ended
there’s no world full of richness
when humanity has ended
but wherever there is an end
there is soil
here there is soil that has chemicals
but some places there must be soil
to take the end of the world
and plant a new start
flowers will grow
and we will grow
and we will not pick the flowers and sell them
we will grow vegetables
and we will pick them and share them
we will pick delegates to help us
and we will hold them accountable
we will give them fruits
too
ecosocialism
planting project
meet tomorrow after classes
plant it
together

Plant life
to stop the end of the world from ending over and over again
it’s ended many times
as a dragged-out
painful death
where slow-moving science funded by quick-spending
Wall Street cement people
is nothing that feels slow
when ripped apart homes
villages
gas leaking into brains of children
fracking where there should be food
desolate fields because of a drought
overflowing gas water under machines of oil exchanges and increase GDP for a CEO to buy
an indigenous island and violate
peoples
has ended the world over and over
let’s stop at this end
and start
born
again people

we must become
born again people
born again humanity
born again earth
born again
friends
lovers
family
farmers
practitioners
helpers
huggers
born again world

pencil that into your plans
rebirth — for the rest of our lives
to reclaim life
as something to give to
something to want
something sacred to protect

end capitalism
reimagine what it means to be alive, together, societally, structurally
ecosocialism
is a seed
we are the nutrients
We dream to see our community garden

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