You—
the last refuge of man,
you—
the final provision
for the journey
of nihilism1—
you dragged
art
into vulgarity.
O servants
of cancerous masses,
O slaves
to herds
of likes
and scrolls,
like sheep
whose heads,
instead of green pasture,
are buried
in a black mirror2,
their mouths
ruminating
the word
more3.
Art,
seen too often,
turns whorish.
And what does a whore care
for being pawed?
Whoredom
is not
the trade of flesh.
The one
who sells flesh
has something
to offer.
But you—
what do you offer
but craving?
What do you thrust forward
but the secretions
of masturbation?
What remains
but emptiness,
so stale
it reeks
of carrion?
O whores
of the age
of attention
and rumination,
O merciless
art-slayers
of the theater
of self-display,
before
your venomous eyes
I bury art
with myself—
in the hope
that one day
someone
will raise it
from the soil
of oblivion.
From Poems of Madness
¹The phrase alludes to the idea of “earthly provisions” introduced by the poet in Invisible Borders, where art is described as one of the fundamental human resources for confronting nihilism.
“black mirror” refers to the glowing screens of contemporary digital devices—smartphones, tablets, and computers—whose dark reflective surfaces dominate modern visual attention. The phrase is used metaphorically to describe the condition of modern humans whose gaze remains fixed on these screens.
The image of mouths “ruminating the word ‘more’” alludes to the idea popularized in The Molecule of More by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long, which discusses dopamine-driven desire and the endless pursuit of “more.” The poet uses the image ironically, comparing this cycle of craving to the animal act of rumination.