The city / Staden

An outburst against the imbalance between rural and urban areas in modern societies

Below is a poem that grew out of a feeling of anger over the imbalance between rural areas and big cities that is so common in our modern societies. That the society I am part of lives in this imbalance is a growing realization for me, which comes from my studies on the shift towards a life-enhancing, regenerative future. In it, there is the local as a foundation for the future we need to change towards, smaller communities with their conditions for strong communities, circular and ecological production. However, this can only happen if we see through our narratives about the big city as the only path to success and happiness. We need to create a healthy balance between rural areas and big cities, which can create the conditions for big cities to also develop towards a sustainable context. The original Swedish version comes at the end.

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The City

The metropolis with its living pulse,
the allure of movement and endless supply,
creativity and the force of creation -
yet truly just the modern veil,
woven from the oily threads of illusion.
The city, this epicenter of society,
colonialism’s triumphant stronghold
at the delta of capitalism’s sullied river,
leaves behind the wreckage of extraction
and buildings that echo with silence,
where once conversations lived.
The fragile house of monetary cards
feeds on globalization’s artificial breath.
When will we understand that without living land,
with localization’s self-sustaining circularity,
and the landscapes of relational food chains,
the concrete’s grey monuments will crumble,
brought down by capital’s arrogant egoism?

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Staden

Storstaden med sin levande puls,
rörelsens och utbudets lockelse,
kreativitet och skapandets kraft -
men egentligen det modernas slöja
formad av illusionens oljiga narrativ.
Staden, denna samhällets mittpunkt,
kolonialismens triumferande högborg
vid deltat av kapitalismens solkiga älv,
lämnar destruktion från extraktion
och hus som ekar tomhet 
efter samtal som en gång var.
Det fragila penningens korthus,
närs av det globalas konstgjorda andning.
När ska vi förstå att utan levande land,
med lokaliseringens självstyrda cirkularitet,
och den relationella matkedjans landskap,
faller betongens gråa monument
av kapitalets arroganta egoism?