Neon Planet

I heard a poem read at Spring Harvest by Richard Hasnip from Saltmine Theatre Company. He literally wrote it just before performing it - it was on the back of an envelope!

Here it is:

Neon Planet, by Richard Hasnip

This neon planet’s strange, I find
It frightens me
This pluralistic, hedonistic, shark-infested fantasy
This ‘tolerance’ this sugar-coated poison dressed as openness
That revels and rejoices in a Harlequin caress

This modern planet’s strange I find
There is no real value
But plastic preachers sermonise to sell, to sell, to sell to you
And Bibles black with certainty are stacked beside Da Vinci Codes
What’s true, what’s false, what’s fantasy?
No-one cares and no-one knows

And can eternal wisdom thrive
In a polystyrene time?
Can God compete in cyberspace?
Does he play dice online?

This neon planet’s strange, I find
It frightens me
I’d rather shelter in a cave of unanimity
I’d rather not confront this hall of mirrors
Twisting private truths
Creating hateful, ugly things distorted and confused.

And yet I know I have to venture
From this cosy sanctuary
Into a blinded neon world that will not welcome me
But I will reach through televisions
And I’ll stretch through computer screens
And I will sing through amplifiers
What forgiveness means
And I’ll become a laughing stock
If that’s what I need to do
To tell a modern plastic planet
Something true