Solutions or Problem

what if irresponsible parenting,
instead of sustaining us, is hastening
the extinction
of our species

when I see trash everywhere
beside Bahamian streets,
when I see graffiti soiling and sullying

when I hear the noises,
those randomly added
and ambiguously raised, make

hear of misbehavior, murder, rape
it seems as if, more and more
are being born, not to sustain, extend –

not to enhance us - our species
but instead to wipe us out

what is a human being
without human values, but animal,
but beast, but part of what human is,
of what human means

Philip Larkin, in “Dockery and Son,”
suggest that instances of reproduction,
instead of being addition,
might very well be dilution

an even more tragic possibility
is that instead of reproduction
being addition or multiplication,
it might be self-destruction

when I see many littering,
see all the litter many leave
everywhere about them,

it seems many are being added
to our numbers only to sully and to soil,
to subtract, to kill our species, our planet –
to be a blight upon creation

should who is born instead
not be a credit to creation rather than a drain,
a strain upon it

are people hardly more than stray dogs
in larger and larger bunches
overturning garbage bins

too often we proclaim
that we are very similar animals,
not much higher at all,
than our best friend


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2008
10.04.08