The Remora Communiqué
Issued by No Spectator Left, December 2020
1
I heard the voice
Of the Remora speak –
Slowly, all in silence,
To wake me from my sleep.
2
I heard the voice
Of its silence say,
‘A Plague Ship has been
Stopped today.’
3
‘Did you even know
You were at sea?
Did you ever stop
To think of me?’
4
‘Know you’d left
The world behind,
Or what on Earth
You hoped to find?’
5
‘Have you heard the whales
Now have to yell?
You think they’re singing –
You can’t tell!’
6
‘It was the droning on & on
Of your Dread-Nought Destroyer
That made me sound my calm alarm
In the ear of your Employer.’
7
‘The Strain & Refrain
From onboard seemed familiar,
An updated version of
“Long Live Caligula!”’
8
‘I stopped his progress, ah
The hutzpah of karma!
Rome outweighed
By the scales of Remora...
’
9
‘Mark Antony
I scuppered too,
Underthrown before
He knew…’
10
‘But today, you thought,
What need to worry?
What voodoo-glue can now undo
Your ship’s world-beating hurry!’
11
‘So I downsized, to fill the role
I was unborn to play:
Remember, as the Show Goes On,
You recast me this way!’
12
‘You even gave new me a name
(With hollow ring, it’s true):
Corona-Virus, The Sick Crown,
Sitting right with you…’
13
‘If you should miss this hint now –
Heaven knows, I tried! –
The next ring at the doorbell?
No more Mr. Nice Guy!’
14
‘For tho’ the story of l’il ole me
Is soon & simply told
(N.B., I’m only as little
As you made the world),
15
Perchance in the Grand Scheme
There’s ‘small’ & then there’s small,
And your friend the atom
May do for us all!’
16
‘Fat Man’s little boy
For purpose trained fit:
The crack that splits open
The hull of the ship!’
17
‘Yes, that’s the thing (you’ll see too late),
It All cracks from inside:
Nothing in the world left ‘out’
Now you’ve grown worldwide.’
18
‘So while we’ve a moment –
And if not now, when? –
Pray, pay me best attention:
We may not meet again.’
19
‘And it’s hard to imagine
But sadly safe to say, you
May yet remember me
Fondly one day!’
20
‘For it’s not just the overlooked
Pit of the Bomb, the
Abyss that’s grown tired from
Yawning so long,’
21
‘There’s now – just in case! –
As the Atomic Clock ticks,
A new kid on the Doomsday Block,
A spare Apocalypse!’
22
‘And with two caps melting
The Dunce is warming to his task,
Facing down his Mother,
Preparing Her Death-Mask.’
23
‘But what does Her life matter
(& who’ll be left to grieve?),
The Old Girl in the Chokehold
Croaking “I Can’t Breathe!”’
24
‘O you wring your hands & ring your bells
While skies & forests fall,
But “capitalism will adapt!” no doubt:
It has to, after all!’
25
‘The trusty greenwashed reset button,
Point missed without fail –
“Sustainable development”…
Of the Fairy Tale!’
26
‘And to “listen to the science”
Isn’t all you need to do:
If you want to really heal thyself,
Listen to my silence too!’
27
‘It really is a killer,
The racket y’all make:
What kind of f** bully
Wants to make his Mother Quake?’
28
‘It is what it is,
Boys will be boys,
In their noisome
Kingdom of Noise?’
29
‘Well, until my little finger
Touched the spinning top,
Ripped you from the driver’s seat
Of the Roaring Chariot.’
30
‘But I cannot now take the helm
Lay in a course that’s true,
Back to safely grounded land –
That’s up to all the Crew.’
31
‘For in this emergency,
All hands on the (burning) deck:
Check your destiny’s manifest, there
Are no passengers left!’
32
‘It’s time to call a midnight strike,
Make love to Mutiny –
Go overboard, throw overboard
This plaguey, illthy Bounty!’
33
‘What exactly should you do? You
Crave a detailed scheme?
I’m not a power-point, you know,
Just your own fever-dream!’
34
I started when the silence stopped,
So badly missed its voice:
Left all alone, onboard to make
The choice that is no choice –
35
To put away so many
Very foolish things,
While we can still remember
What being human means,
36
Remember that the question
‘To be or not to be?’
Isn’t just a question
Of or for humanity,
37
Though it wouldn’t be an issue
Without the threats we pose,
The constant hammering it takes
To crucify Life’s Rose,
38
To pulverize the Earth that is
Our only common wealth,
To tame and tag, gas & gag
The good wild life of health.
39
I cried, ‘my God, I have to rush,
Right now alert the crew;
Not those who know they slave & serve –
The rest, without a clue,
40
Who buckle up,
Enjoy the ride,
Let those “in the
Know” decide
41
Their fate: “Awake!,” I’d cry,
“Discern!, deride
The course laid in
For Omnicide!”’
42
But my voice would
Not be the Dream’s,
And I must wake
To what It means –
43
So first things first,
Some silence, pray:
High Time to issue
The Remora Communiqué…