Blog

The Darkness of Neon Lights

From Martyn Namorong

 

Tonight at Kaugere looking over the shanties

We see the glittering brightness of Overseas*

Creating The Darkness of Neon Lights

It is the loneliness and despair in the urban cities.

It is the alienation of LAND from rural people

That feeds the babes of rich people

 

We see true social security and happiness

Being diminished in the name of progress

The pursuit of large scale industries

At the expense of indigenous communities

Our Social, cultural and spiritual blights

Caused by The Darkness of Neon Lights

 

Notes

This poem is a rearrangement/rewording of a quote from the Constitutional Planning Committee 1975, with inputs from a couple of good friends.

*Overseas is poetic license used by the slum dwellers of Kaugere in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, refer to the bright lights and exclusive suburbs of WEALTHY CLASSES in TOWN and TOUAGOUBA HILL