Oh, fields of freedom, what have you become? You sheep who reside upon it. What do you teach your children: What you claim the good Lord preachth? What crackpots write in their manifestos? What your parents whispered in your little ear?
Deary me yee sheep. Your farmer has fed you the destroying angel.
“Pluck off the flowers,” he declares. “Till there be nothing left but shoots and stems!” All the same. A world bleached in pursuit of someone to blame.
Is this what the fields of freedom have become? Fame matters more than merit. A land falling fast thanks to fools playing sages.
I say. Life has become a joke, and for what? Still, the mosquitos drain you dry. The coyotes devour your time and cheat your checks. There you go again, pointing your fingers in the wrong direction as you remain unaware of this infection.
And no! Don’t assign blame. You put these clowns and quacks in seats they will forge into thrones. All while good people are made to wear crowns of thorns. All because eggs cost more.
As the Oracle, I proclaim these fields of freedom will be picked clean by the cane toads and locusts. They’ll get fat on your fruits, and you’ll get the leftovers.
With this, we pray. Oh, merciful messiah from higher sphere delivered. Take root inside the masses’ hardened hearts. Let them rise above the fog of hatred lest the herd fall apart. Lest the seeds of a better tomorrow be stunted and fail to start.
Signed, the Oracle
Note: Destroying angel is a deadly mushroom responsible for a majority of mushroom related posionings along with their cousin, the death cap, thanks to mistaken identity. Novice forigers and recent immigrants can mistake the destroying angel’s young as puffballs, an edible mushroom. Amanite, the toxin in destroying angel, is also notorious for being hard to treat. Symptoms take 5 to 24 hours to manifest and can easily be mistaken for the flu in emergency rooms. If treatment is not provided fast enough, Amanite destroys the liver and kidneys and the only thing that can save a victim is an organ transplant.
Matthew Warakomski is a journalism student and creative writer who is graduating this year. His primary focus is poetry and science fiction short stories and novellas. His publication of The Oracle is his first submission in any literary magazine, but he hopes that it won’t be the last.
He performs at the Green Mill’s Uptown poetry slam and enjoys singing karekoke, photography, bicycling, and taking quiet walks in nature. Much of his time in nature and walking around the city serves as inspiration for his poems and other writing.