Literature
Going Home Soylent Green Style
Going Home Soylent Green Style
by p.b. wells
watching Soylent Green
with the Admiral
sweating in the glass,
I sit here thinking
maybe the future
doesn’t arrive with flying cars
or silver suits
or some clean little miracle
from a lab.
maybe it arrives
with a government clerk
handing you a form
and saying,
when you’re tired enough,
we have a room for that.
going home, they called it.
soft music.
pretty pictures.
a clean bed.
the last kindness
dressed up like theater.
and hell,
part of me understands it.
that’s the dangerous part.
because life can wear a man down
until the walls start whispering
and the bottle looks like a priest
who finally tells the truth.
but once a society builds
a beautiful door out of here,
it starts pushing people toward it.
the poor.
the old.
the sick.
the inconvenient bastards
who cost too much
and complain too loud.
call it mercy
and you can sell anything.
call it dignity
and the murder looks polished.
maybe going home
is a good idea
only
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