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This thought-provoking poem written by Lancelot Schaubert challenges readers to imagine the world after capitalism has fallen, which is in response to Amos 6: 1-14.

Amos 6:1-14

Stripped to the Bonemeal

By 

Lancelot Schaubert

Credits: 

Illumination Representation Image by Lancelot Shaubert with Ai on Midjourney

Curated by: 

Spark+Echo Arts

2022

Poetry

Image by Giorgio Trovato

Primary Scripture

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria,
the notable men of the chief of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel come!
Go to Calneh, and see;
and from there go to Hamath the great;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
are they better than these kingdoms?
or is their border greater than your border?
Those who put far away the evil day,
and cause the seat of violence to come near;
Who lie on beds of ivory,
and stretch themselves on their couches,
and eat the lambs out of the flock,
and the calves out of the middle of the stall;
who strum on the strings of a harp;
who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
who drink wine in bowls,
and anoint themselves with the best oils;
but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive;
and the feasting and lounging will end.
“The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob,
and detest his fortresses.
Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.
It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house,
that they shall die.
“When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention Yahweh’s name.’
“For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces,
and the little house into bits.
Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow there with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison,
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say,
‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’
For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,”
says Yahweh, the God of Armies;
“and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”

Amos 6:1-14

I focused on the alliterative meter for this piece to give a sort of Old English Beowulf or Nordic ire. Most of the Hebrew ire is lost on us. I hoped an epic meter would round this out.

Spark Notes

The Artist's Reflection

Lancelot has sold work to The New Haven Review (The Institute Library), The Anglican Theological Review, TOR (MacMillan), McSweeney's, The Poet's Market, Writer's Digest, and many, many similar markets. (His favorite, a rather risqué piece, illuminated bankroll management by prison inmates in the World Series Edition of Poker Pro). Publisher's Weekly called his debut novel BELL HAMMERS "a hoot."


He has lectured on these at academic conferences, graduate classes, and nerd conventions in Nashville, Portland, Baltimore, Tarrytown, NYC, Joplin, and elsewhere.


The Missouri Tourism Bureau, WRKR, Flying Treasure, 9art, The Brooklyn Film Festival, NYC Indie Film Fest, Spiva Center for the Arts, The Institute of the North in Alaska, and the Chicago Museum of Photography have all worked with him as a film producer and director in various capacities.

Lancelot Schaubert

About the Artist

Artist in Residence 2019: Lancelot Schaubert - Part 3

Artist in Residence 2019: Lancelot Schaubert - Part 2

Artist in Residence 2019: Lancelot Schaubert - Part 1

Posh Girls

As Waters Cover

Artist in Residence 2019: Lancelot Schaubert

Dragonsmaw Daily | 1

Dragonsmaw Daily | 2

Dragonsmaw Daily | 3

Watchtower

Metaphysical Insurance Claim 0075A: The Delphic Oracle

Philadelphia

Bloodlines

Lancelot Schaubert

Other Works By 

Related Information
Image by Aaron Burden

Time will come when the tyrants wane,
When Cape Cod will be encased in ice
Frozen like the final fires of hell

STRIPPED TO THE BONEMEAL


By Lancelot Schaubert


Time will come when the tyrants wane,

When Cape Cod will be encased in ice

Frozen like the final fires of hell

Where the tears of the taker confine.


To these Bible Belt complacent we say WOE —

To Lexington’s healthy horse breeders,

To Houston’s oil oligarchs and their wives,

To St. Louis’s stealers of farms

(The corn mutants of Monsanto fiefs),

To Indy’s hoarders of insulin patents,

And redlining real-estate

Brokers spread like a patina of SPAM —

We say woe to you wicked Christians.


You feel secure in the coastless heights.


For Saudi and Iraq, for the Soviets and China.

For Mexico City and Singapore.

For Japan and Uganda, for Polynesia and Sweden.


Are they so much worse for wear to insult?

Are you so better off than these beautiful places?


And there will be time for The End to anguish greed.

When your lapis lazuli La-Z-Boys®

Fold inward in a fractured heap,

When the mojitos you inhale dockside

Slip in your sweat and shatter on deck,

When your Golden Globes gilded in Peru mines

Tarnish by your misinvoiced trade policies,

When your Powers That Be lose your power in three

Carefully placed hurricanes,

When your poor will be seen, empowered and whole.


Enjoy your tours of juniper spirits,

Foodie reviews and festivals of music.

Enjoy your Costco wine and calves.


Your people — your poor — lie in ruin.

And because of that: America ain’t great.


"If the civility of a society’s what you want to size,

Take a deeper look at its prisons.” —Dostoevsky


The meal will get stripped to the bonemeal.

The lounge will stiffen, so languishes the sex,

And the market crashes making you the poor

And not merely the poor in meek spirit.


When your pride is ended, you will ask this:

How did the meek shall inherit the earth?




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Image by Aaron Burden

Time will come when the tyrants wane,
When Cape Cod will be encased in ice
Frozen like the final fires of hell

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