Robert Verdon, #78, Generation Zero

our past is chamfered and bevelled,

mortised and tenoned ingeniously,

yet we have forgotten how to build;

aligning each storey to the one below,

leaving the ironwork unpainted,

piling on the cement mixed with seawater,

sand-foundations sliding into the ocean —

but we can’t make an ark either,

or grow a decent garden in terracotta;

instead, we share out unevenly dwindling

beans on a rock as the tide comes in,

ignoring the pyramids, the great ships

of Zhen He and the industrial revolution,

worshipping sustainable frugality.