Advanced Lobotomy In An Infant Mind

In the Ice Age:
stone tool research; hunting techniques
fruit-picking technology; story telling
In the Nuclear Rage:
stem cell research; genetic engineering
space technology; nanotechnology
—the robotic lobotomy of our prefrontal brain
a manipulation of the mind away from reasoning

In the laboratories, a father fathers his daughter’s children
another slaughters his loins
and a mother murders her 6-month old baby
because the presumed father refused responsibility
or perhaps there is no father
the bridge, a suicide zone for teenagers
who would, some years ago be playing
ampe and hide-and-seek in the Town-Square
The skyscrapers tower our senses
and the bridge between sense and nonsense
dissolves amidst the cityscape
—a remnant of the mental mutilation
and the circumcision of the land

The limbic brain
has gradually been realigned with rage
and with our complex unfathomable selves
alone in the darkness
in line with the insidious shrinking of kinship
and the circumcision of the mind
and the civilisation of the land

Acute Psychiatric Distress:
no friend to share your problems
none to sit by you
beside the firelight
beneath the moonlight
to share your cola and palm-wine
and talk about the antics of the antelope
None to unwind the padded cranial cells
from their unromantic murderous formations
...so soon the bridge collapses under its weight
and death is welcomed into the fold

The Columbine massacre;
The West Gate Bridge
The monster of Marquita
Indicators of a technological advancement
which has orphaned our infant minds
in time’s eolithic memory

Copyright 2009 by Nana Fredua-Agyeman

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Comments

  1. Oh man, this is nothing short of genius! I just love your mastery over the texture of the words, how the diction resided in molecular biology and other cutting-edge sciences of that ilk until the penultimate verse; how your metallic protest against 'modernize' softened into "cola and palm wine" romanticism at the end. And the development and transition from verse to verse was seamless too.I could go on and on, but I'll end by praising the delicate balance of the poem in which you never actually get round to pointing an accusing finger at anybody in particular. It's sublime. Thank you for sharing such beautiful thinking and ability.

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  2. Thanks NYA for the comment. You made my day...

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  3. Nana this is really thought provoking. I agree completely with the other Nana NYA's comments too. Your progression through the poem is really great.

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  4. Thanks Trixi. I am happy you also liked it. A friend said I use 'big' words. But Lobotomy is scientific and cannot be replaced because it is a name for something specific.

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  5. Your use of scientific words in the first bit followed by the romantic part in the next to last stanza counters each other really well. I think that change in tone and diction (as NYA says) is what makes your poem so powerful. I put a link to your poem in my blog. I hope you don't mind!

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  6. Thanks Trixie. I don't mind sharing. Poetry is for sharing. Thanks once again.

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  7. "The Columbine massacre;
    The West Gate Bridge
    The monster of Marquita
    Indicators of a technological advancement
    which has orphaned our infant minds
    in time’s eolithic memory"

    This is never far from my own thoughts. BTW, what movie is "Taken?" Have never heard of it...

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  8. Thanks Rethabile. 'Taken' tells of a story of a girl who was kidnapped and would have eventually been forced into prostitution. However, his father, being a former worker for the 'government', traced the routes where the daughter travelled. There is also something on love and divorce (relationships) here.

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  9. Your poetry is simply sublime.Need I say more.

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