The Cannibal King

By Arya Utsa Varma

Posted on December 1, 2023

Cover Image Title: King

Cover Image by: Alice Wang

Classification: Digital Art

Specifications: 2550 px X 3300 px

Year: 2023

Location: California, U.S.A.

I feel like eating a god tonight;

You bring the forks and I’ll bring the knives,

We’ll cut right in and bite down

And maybe we’ll ascend when we’re finished.

The world turns for the cultists,

And there’s a lot of them, too,

For breathing is subservience in the age of consumption;

We’ll partake in the divine flesh

Like the savages that we are.

Next year, we’ll sing our children to sleep

With stories of cannibal fairies,

And perhaps we’ll grow wings too,

For we’re all gods, in the bowels of the beast.

Down here, everything is tinted red,

We’re gasping for air in the rat-race,

Running on the fumes that we smoke;

The Holy Cannibal turns the cogs of clockwork.

I’m already in the spiral;

A god-eater to be feared.

Description:

Today's world is one in which those at the top of the corporate ladder achieve a "godlike" status - whereas others are forced to scavenge for sustenance and live on the bare minimum. In fact, consumerist culture has created a cult mindset in many workplaces, and the growing frustration amongst the underprivileged drives them to a common feeling of hatred - or "savagery" - towards those who profit off of them. This creates a vicious cycle, and children of the new age will grow up with this cynical and ferocious world-view. Society as a whole is running on fumes due to the level of personal competition that is rampant, and by the time the speaker realizes the gravity of the situation, they are already part of the problem.

[ * The End * ]

[Writing Editor: Ananya Shah]