Does anyone know any good doomer poetry? I've been listening to The Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You Black Emperor, and want more like the bit from the intro.
The bit from the intro:
spoiler
The car's on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel
And the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
And a dark wind blows
The government is corrupt
And we're on so many drugs
With the radio on and the curtains drawn
We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death
The sun has fallen down
And the billboards are all leering
And the flags are all dead at the top of their poles
It went like this:
The buildings toppled in on themselves
Mothers clutching babies
Picked through the rubble
And pulled out their hair
The skyline was beautiful on fire
All twisted metal stretching upwards
Everything washed in a thin orange haze
I said, "Kiss me, you're beautiful -
These are truly the last days"
You grabbed my hand
And we fell into it
Like a daydream
Or a fever
We woke up one morning and fell a little further down
For sure it's the valley of death
I open up my wallet
And it's full of blood
:desolate:
No Dream by Jeff Rosenstock (of Bomb the Music Industry fame) is pretty on the nose:
:::They were picking up the bodies on TV/ When I caught a reflection of you and me/ Staring back at us while frozen on the screen/ Crank the white noise and pretend/ That we're asleep/ That we're asleep/ Dream, dream, dream, dream/
They were separating families carelessly/ Under the guise of protecting you and me/ Jailing innocents, no hope of being free/ Crank the white noise and pretend/ That we're asleep/ That we're asleep/ Dream, dream, dream, dream/
They were lining up the unsuspecting teens/ For a violent moment of celebrity/ Golden bullets blessed by lobbyist money/ Splash a tidal wave of blood into your stream/ Weaponizing what's left of your empathy/ Trapped inside a void that zeroes out the screams/
It's not a dream (x9)/ Not a dream/ Not a dream/ It's not a dream/ Not a dream/ Not a dream/ Not a dream/ It's not a dream/ Not a dream/ Not a dream/ Not a dream/ It's not a dream/ Not a dream/ Not a dream/ Not a/
Breakdown (yelling rather than singing):
The only framework capitalism can thrive in is dystopia/ Fuck all the fakers Acting like they're interested in hearing us when we yell/ "Hold accountable the architects Of hopelessness and never ending violence!"/ They'll be like "Whatever, idiot" and fuel their brand of power incorruptible like it exists/ Saintly fronts in a system that rewards only the greediest/ The only endgame for capitalism is dystopia/ And we know all about but we just don't know what to do/
What can we do?/ What can we do?/ What can we do?/
"Nothing more to see here y'all Good night, start heading towards the exit"/( x4) Fuck violence:::
(I apparently don't know how to do the spoilers thing)
Its lyrics and not poetry, but I adore the song Latter Days by Big Red Machine ft. Anaïs Mitchell:
How long? Is what you asked How long do you think it's gonna last? You at the corner store You were stocking up before the storm Stacked yourself against the odds Talkin' back to an act of God You and your clever mouth You were laughing when the lights went out I recall it all forever How it found us where we lay With our arms around each other In the latter days, in the latter days How high? Is what you said How high do you think it's gonna get? You at the water's edge On the jetty when you were a kid Passed around a plastic cup Passed out spinning in the house where you grew up You in your childhood bed And the wildest dream you ever had You recall it all forever How it found you where you lay And you called out for your brother In the latter days I recall it all forever How it found us where we lay With our arms around each other In the latter days Do you? (How high) Do you? I recall it all forever How we sheltered in our place And we called each other lovers In the latter days I recall it all forever How there was no hiding place So we called each other brothers In the latter days, in the latter daysAlso not poetry, but generally The Thermals' 2003 album The Body The Blood the Machine is very lyrically rich, a kind of concept album about Evangelicalism, fear of god, oil, running for your life, that sort of thing. It's not straight doomer, talks about the same things GY!BE do but sardonically, often from the perspective of the oppressor to show the absurdity ("Work is freedom, sloth is sin!"). I highly (and constantly) recommend it.
Lyrics to Power doesn't Run on Nothing below, but better to just do it together with the track :
spoiler
We are just a child
We are just a child
We are wide awake
But our legs are shaking
We're unaware
We're hyper and we stare into space
With grins on our facesSo give us what we're asking for
Cause either way we're gonna take it
Our power doesn't run on nothing
We need the land you're standing on
So let's go, move itWe are old as hell
We are old and tell the children
When to kill, when to sit still
Everyone doing what we say
'Til our dying day
'Til our breath is emptyThey'll give us what we're asking for
Cause either way we're gonna take it
Our power doesn't run on nothing
We need the land you're standing on
So let's go, move it
Yeah, You need to let go, move it
Yeah, we're more equal
We'll move you people off the planet
Cause goddamn we need the fuel
So, so let the beat roll over
The beat roll over
Every one in line
One in line
Let the beat roll over
The beat roll over
Every one in line
One at a timeThey'll give us what we're asking for
Cause god is with us
And our god's the richest
Our power doesn't run on nothing
It runs on blood
And blood is easy to obtain
When you have no shame
We have no shameSo let the sun fade
Let the sun fade
We'll still have light
We'll burn even brighter
We'll drain the well
Tunnel to hell
And leave the earth's surface
For the dirty and worthless
Let the beat roll over
The beat roll over
Every one in line
Every one in lineDo you think we'll cease?
Do you see a reason?
Do you think it's fair?
Do you think it's fair?
Do you think we care?The beginning of four score and seven by Titus Andronicus breaks my heart:
This is a war we can't win/ After 10, 000 years, it's still us against them/ And my heroes have always died at the end/ So who's going to account for these sins?
Then later in the song:
"We're all depraved and disgusting" I spew like a fountain/ "And debased, defaced, disgraced and destroyed/ Most of all disappointed" I say atop this mountain/ As I urinate into the void
Fuck I'm frustrated, freaking out something fierce/ Would you help me, I'm hungry, I suffer and I starve/ Oh I struggle and I stammer 'till I'm up to my ears/ In miserable quote unquote art
About how ever since our forefathers came on this land/ We've been coddling those we should be running through/ Please don't wait around for them to come and shake hands/ They're not gonna be waiting for you
'Cause these humans treat humans like humans treat hogs/ They get used up, coughed up, and fried in a pan/ But I wasn't born to die like a dog/ I was born to die just like a man/ I was born to die just like a man!
It's still us against them (x14)/ Still us against them/ And they're winning
Some doomer poetry - John Berryman's Dream Songs always gets me in the mood.
T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and The Hollow Men, Yeats's The Second Coming, etc. . . . really anything written around World War I ought to do the trick for doomerism.
Also, it sounds like you could use some Evidently Chickentown .
The bloody scene is bloody sad The bloody news is bloody bad The bloody weed is bloody turf The bloody speed is bloody surf The bloody folks are bloody daft Don't make me bloody laugh It bloody hurts to look around Everywhere in chicken town The bloody train is bloody late You bloody wait you bloody wait You're bloody lost and bloody found Stuck in fucking chicken town
Crow by Ted Hughes is pretty damn bleak. Just a warning, he may have possibly driven Silvia Plath to her death while writing it. Shout out to Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen as well.
I don't think doomer poetry is a great idea cause there was one poem in the 1800's that led to a spate of suicides
Also a novel in the 1770s. It was the best of times, it was the Werther of times.
