A Coachella of Turtles

you could sip a drink of clear
straight from a glacier a few meters near
wade around in a sun-warmed tarn
back to the skies where we are from
way up there you hear the stars
it's that sound like iron bears
rising wind an eagle's call
mountain goat dances causing rockfall



oh goody we're going to war
just the solution old men look for
gather up rabble, set 'em in lines
convince them to shoot each other another time
look at 'em go, leaders and their plans
not a single one of 'em what we'd call human



show us your conventions
we've been wild for far too long
show us your civilizations
so we can find where we belong
then we will rattle all their eaves together
with the roar of true love's song



one can always tell
and recognize signs of horror
where living folk once fell
a flattened circle in the grass
gravel the consistency of bone in clasts
the melted sand has turned to glass
but paper burns first of all
and history is the last call



what is the meaning of life? let's see
to be determined and never veer
all nemeses curate enemies
it is an unpleasant duty to forgive
and it generates results most queer
but if finding meaning means to live
we exist as ever-positive