The Great Destruction

How will this time we live in
be remembered by historians?

We had the War Between the States,
aka “The Civil War”
but there was nothing “civil”about it.

We had the Great Depression
but it was anything but “great.”

The Civil Rights Era looked good on paper,
but, again, there was nothing “civil” about it.

Funny how the Civil War and Civil Rights
both have that word,
and how these days
public cruelty is applauded.

But now?
Now is exceptional,
not exceptionally great either.
The only thing exceptional
is the silence.

They have broken America,
used and abused it,
sold it off to any bidder
willing to bend the knee
to a megalomaniac.

So if we have a name for now,
while the world burns
and nations fight over oil and minerals,
turning away from the oppressed and impoverished,

I think it will be written as
the era of The Great Destruction…

and again,
it is anything but “great.”




Poetry by Melinda K Zarate The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 171 times
star mini Editors' choice
Written on 2026-08-20 at 06:42

Tags Eras  History  Destruction 

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Sameen The PoetBay support member heart!
Historians love naming things 'Great' like arsonists love naming fires 'cozy.
2026-08-25


Editorial Team The PoetBay support member heart!
Your poem has been chosen to be featured on the home page of PoetBay. Thank you for posting on our poetry website!
2026-08-24


Griffonner The PoetBay support member heart!
I think your poem hit it on the head. Some might say, 'The great sell-out" as there certainly is a ground swell of opinion concerning which side of the coin the magalomaniac really sits.
Blessings, Allen
2026-08-20


jim The PoetBay support member heart!
There's a word coined in the 1990's: polycrisis. Here's wikipedia's summation:

"A polycrisis is a situation where multiple distinct crises—such as economic instability, climate change, geopolitical conflict, and public health emergencies—occur at the same time. These separate problems interact and feed into each other, making the final combined damage much worse than the sum of each individual problem."

We live a time of polycrisis, and "The Great Destruction" seems more than apt.
2026-08-20