The Story Monsters Poem by Cerys Grant

Mother Earth screamed!
‘Mankind cannot be redeemed! ’
‘Their hearts are a deep hole! ’
‘They have never had a soul! ’

When she saw where all her dead children had lain.
Mother Earth dared to scream again:
‘The virus on my skin, it’s driving me insane!
‘Please, a hero I need, a deliverer from the pain! ’

All her tears evaporated into the dust.
And then they raped her belly out of lust.
Coal, coal, we must find more coal!
Hole!
Soul!
Coal!

‘Tsk, Mommy rather tell me a fairy story
Or about knights fighting for God’s glory
Or what about princes that will never exist
Or gay unicorns that ride out from the mist
Any story will do, from my allocated subject list.’

‘Please understand, my mind cannot be tainted,
By these awful images your story has painted.
All people’s children are fair, young and sweet!
But all animals’ children are there for the meat.’

‘I have tomorrow, but you have today.
so please keep your story monsters away at bay!
I won’t ask you again but listen as I say’:
This Earth, this Earth is mine, for ruin or for relish!
Does it really matter that anything else might perish?
I will still stand,
In halls of remembrance oh so grand!
Palatial images that tipple the sky,
Great houses of conquests gone by! ’

‘With tomorrow looming, Mommy please be aware,
You really don’t want me to leave you with any scare.
You ruined today, a foresight I’m sure,
But I’ll bake your memory in heat and torture.’


‘So dearest mother, be the womb that you are.
Keep your putrid advice not near but far!
Nature, nurture, niceness, whatever!
None of these things can make me clever! ’

‘You try to tell me my path might be wrong?
That one day our Earth will have no song?
Maybe you are the one that got it wrong,
maybe because you have lived too long? ’

‘History repeat?
No, how can time compete?
I never heard anything so sweet!
Life really will be a treat! ’

‘So tell me a story of fairies and magic,
Something light, nothing terribly tragic.
Nothing too dull or morbidly pragmatic,
certainly nothing about death, doom or gloom,
and never about anything real, imperative, or what is coming soon.’