Not so Flowery Poetry

In the year 2015 I was introduced to what would become one of my favorite podcasts of all time. Set in a small desert community Welcome to Night Vale is the story of a weird little town where strange is the norm and all that is too be expected is that you can never really predict what will happen next.

When my cousin first explained to me about the show and how it was a series of broadcasts from a community radio station in a fictional town I thought it was strange, and it is. But from the first episode I was hooked, the stories were goofy and engaging and host Cecil Baldwin has a wonderful way of presenting and expressing himself. Needless to say I have been listening ever since and I love it. In addition to giving updates on the town and residence of Night Vale however the show often has sections of poetry and music as well. On February 19 2015 the episode Poetry Week was released, creators Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor invited listeners to submit their own works of poetry for a chance to be read on the show. Just recently I was rereading some of my favorites when I stumbled across this particular piece that was submitted by a fan and while it was never aired on the show I fell in love with it. The short piece is entitled Nympholepsy and reads as follows;

There once  was a time when man

claimed the jungle as his garden

... and paradise died

So man reconstructed a new garden

out of concrete and steel

... and earth wept

In this man-made garden

there was little room for flora and fauna

brother turned against brother

and sister turned upon sister

The garden stank of death and hate

... and earth wept

within this diseased and dying concrete jungle

balance became unbalanced

man's garden became rife with nympholepsy

Soon callousness and greed became the paean of humanity

And the descent from grace became a nuclear race

to defile yet even another garden

I was struck by so much in this poem and I have since reread it at least one hundred times. The message, the religious themes and powerful ending sentences struck me really hard. It really compelled me to think about the first garden that man was given, the garden of Eden. This poem is a statement of the imperfection of man that has been present since the very beginning, and the terrible habit that we as humans have of ruining things that have been given to us.  
There once  was a time when man

claimed the jungle as his garden

... and paradise died

This line instantly brought to mind an image of the garden of Eden the home of the first humans, Adam and Eve, to inhabit the Earth according to the Bible. According to the story Adam and Eve lived in this beautiful and perfect garden setting until they committed an act contrary to the will of God, as a result they were cast out of the garden and the Earth was cursed. By referencing this story we can see just how early humans have been screwing things up. It seems that since the dawn of time we have had a real knack for messing with the balance of things, a theme which is very prominent throughout this poem.  

So man reconstructed a new garden

out of concrete and steel

... and earth wept

In this man-made garden

there was little room for flora and fauna

brother turned against brother

and sister turned upon sister
the garden stank of death and hate

... and earth wept

I thought it was interesting how much the author focuses on the hatred that humanity carries. They pain a vivid picture of violence and killing in the setting of a garden, which is by nature full of life and peace. In a way it is a display of the fact that everything has its opposite. The garden that man inherited was once lush and beautiful enhancing everything that it touched. In a stark contrast man is painted here as being terrifying and destructive, ruining everything that he touches. While I think this is an extreme view of humanity I agree that we have had a profound impact on the planet, or garden in which we reside. It would seem that we do not have an issue destroying something beautiful for our own benefit and that we perhaps have done this since the beginning of time.  

within this diseased and dying concrete jungle

balance became unbalanced

man's garden became rife with nympholepsy

Soon callousness and greed became the paean of humanity

And the descent from grace became a nuclear race

to defile yet even another garden

Now I have to admit that looking at the world today it would seem that this bleak picture of the future is pretty accurate. It seems with every passing day the world becomes a scarier and darker place to live. I loved the wording in this bit and found the word nympholepsy to be an especially appropriate word to describe the general mindset of people today. The word is defined as a wild frenzy caused by desire for an unattainable ideal. It is exactly this greedy frenzy that is causing us to put only ourselves first, stopping at nothing not even the possibility of hurting others on our way to the top. A very cynical view of humanity yes, but I think that many people have at least considered this view and most of us cant help but think it when faced with the news and current events unfolding across the globe. It is exactly this frenzy that, as the author suggests, will cause us to eventually defile yet another garden. 

It was a really powerful prompt for me to stop and think about my part in all this, after all I do live in and contribute to the garden of concrete and steel described here. The wording is very powerful and the image of a weeping earth really upsets me and I dont want to be someone that has played a part in making earth weep. Unfortunately this fall from grace is so ingrained in us as humans that perhaps we hardly notice the impact that we make anymore. The path that we are headed down is as a result not the greatest, but I was very grateful to the author of this poem for helping me to take more notice of the impact that I have in this fragile garden that we live in.