Videopoem: "The Semaphore of Civilization" by Bill Yarrow and Ray Fahrner
Channel: Bill Yarrow
Date: 2014-09-24

Video remix of "The Semaphore of Civilization"

Poem and Video by Bill Yarrow
Music and Reading by Ray Fahrner

THE SEMAPHORE OF CIVILIZATION

There's no virtue in anonymity,
in isolation, in stoicism, in silence.
There's no happiness in loneliness,
oscillation, persecution, fear.
There's no resurrection in resentment,
hatred, indifference, pride.
There's no rescue in the selfish dark.

We are the deed's creature
We are creatures
We are of the flowers
We are De Flores

There's no one alive who wouldn't
undo the past, no one in our past
who wouldn't rejoice to hold us again,
no hold we can grip to help us climb
the fog. We're alone and besieged
by badness. We crave rescue, but
there's only rescue in the selfless dark.

We are creatures
We are the deed's creature
We are De Flores
We are of the flowers

This poem appears in Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX 2012).