Utopia Is Everywhere Today! Poem by Daniel Brick

A citizen confides to his Doctor:
A demon inhabits my space: his clawed feet
jab my back, his arms encircle my neck
and choke me for hours each day. Very often,
he presses my eyelids tightly shut,
and whispers hoarsely in my left ear,
'You'll never see colors again.'
Can you help me, Doctor? Can you restore
me to the standards of the community?
Doctor's note: Patient's inner life out of control.

A citizen confides to his private journal:
The judge in my case was merciful, but
only partially merciful. He reduced the fine
for my embezzlement scheme, and did not
completely drain my credit account. 'Your children
are my primary concern, they must not suffer
for the father's crime. I will not preside over
their loss of food and shelter. You will not
be jailed. Pay your fine immediately. Dismissed! '
Of course, the judge is wealthy and I am poor.

A citizen reports to the Academic Supervisory Board:
Agents from Control Central extol learning. Unfailingly,
they guide us to that single book which will answer
our questions, or, at very least, will ease our doubts,
or, even more basically, dispel that restlessness
of mind that clouds our judgment and complicates
obedience. The agents remind us that no learning,
however alluring to our dazzled and dazed minds,
should be permitted to interfere with that mental
emptiness necessary for a good night's sleep.

A citizen shares what he knows to be essential
to the Good Life with his seven children:
'Sleep is sweet, ' intones the Rally Master.
'But chanting our beliefs, all of us reciting
from the same page, is sweeter.' And then he pauses,
in the center of a hub where eight streets angle
into that hub, so that no action is occluded
in shadows, but every act, even the tiniest gesture,
is perfectly obvious. And then, dear children,
your will chant for hours until everyone is ONE.

The Rally confirms the public will at the center
of our system. People arrive at their respective hubs
keen to begin the chanting. Families blend their members
together, elderly are guided to benches, babies receive
pampering from volunteers. Adolescents, acutely aware
their brains are on fire with gender changes, sigh
in relief as the chanting eases their inner turmoil.
Oh, that blessed state of mental emptiness will soon
spread through the hub and fully possess each citizen,
regardless of age, gender, employment, obedience status.

Two speakers are always scheduled, of course, one before
the chanting, the other after. This is the inherited
wisdom of our community: the first speaker empties
our minds, the second one seals that emptiness.
Dear children, a wise man, Kenneth Boulding, said
many decades ago, 'Once humanity wises up,
we can only hope it never dumbs down.' Oh, yes,
you laugh because it sounds funny. Go ahead, laugh,
because we have achieved perfection in our time,
and we know with full confidence, Utopia Is Everywhere Today!