Dear Government
I am your country’s most valuable
mineral resource. Better than your bauxite. Manganese. Copper. Your gold even. These
swell your coffers, for sure. They have swollen them for a long time now. But few have they enriched. And among those farthing few, quite a few filthy rich at that. And many have they impoverished. And of them, many made dirt poor. And many more have they
in their wake left dead. And many more enslaved. Tortured. Raped.
I am your country’s most valuable
mineral resource. Better than your diamonds even. Svelte diamonds may be. But they cut a very
rough figure to my finesse. My suave.
A man’s best friend? Yes. But who
boasts of a friend with blood in their hands? Literally blood in their hands. From blood from kids’ hands......
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Dear Mother Earth
Let truth be said so that you shall be
set free: You have never been that willing a partner in "progress." Not
under the much-to-be-desired stewardship of Excellencies Messrs Drs. President and
Prime Minister since independence. Those other extractives, they are as expectant for
extrication as is a patient for tooth extraction. They are as enamored by the
advances of the drills and dredges that disembowel you, Mother Earth, as
you are by those of T-Rex a month without food. Right at that moment when you become
breakfast. Those emaciated, denuded, scarified, scary-looking blotches and
blights that replace the once lush, verdant landscape that defined you? That, my lass, alas, is you.
But I’m here, Earth dearest. Unlike the
other extractives who are co-victims made hapless co-conspirators in your plight
and plunder, I am your watchful, vigilant protector. I am your salve, your
savior. The more they mine me, the more cures I reveal to heal you. To revitalize you. To rejuvenate you....
Dear Bounty Hunter
I am low-hanging fruit. Pluck me! No,
strike that. I am diamond in the sky. Heck! I am diamond that rains from the sky. Sing my praises! I am the
chocolate factory yes. But one better. The product of many wonks, I am at your wink and will pliable, malleable. I
am one hundred percent pure power and pleasure, no pain. No guilt. No
toothache. No headache.
No nightmare either. Nothing but a lean, mean thoroughbred. All Triple Crown
at the races in infinite loop. And you are the jockey! I wake you up from the
stupor of illusory growth to the vigor of vital development. I
bring peace to war. Knowledge to ignorance. Growth to stagnation. Transparency to kleptocracy. Democracy to oligarchy. Equality to discrimination..
Dear CSOs, Program Sponsors,
Implementing Partners, InterGovs...
I am conundrum gift-wrapped in enigma. I
am a puzzle solved by a riddle. Ridiculous how I relish that the more you take,
the more I have and love to give. Tap [into] me half-empty down and I replenish four times full. Amazing grace indeed that the more you dig and probe and excise me, the
more wholesome I become. The more you mine me, the bigger I become. The better
I become. The healthier citizens become. The longer they live. The smarter
they get. The richer they become.
The happier we all
become...
Dear world
I am the most
desirable extractive in the world.
I am open
data. And I am open for business.
Beautifully poetic...
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