When the kettle, car, washing machine

all give out, give up, splat!

just after the warranty expires,

it is a planned strategy,

for monetary gain:

one small part designed as irreplaceable

to ensure that timely demise

 - made inaccessible to DIY repairers

and internet-catalogue geeks alike.

 

How is that process halal?

How is that business, salary, expertise

in any way proper?

Battery life juggled, built-in

to suit needs of perpetuating turnover

after consumer saturation point.

 

The basic gospel of endless growth:

expansion in every direction

to support not just bread and butter,

roof or rent,

but providing all the cushy treats

and  alluring upgrades

that keeps the social bodies’

dependences and addictions rolling.

 

When is a tree deemed obsolescent?

when we need it’s substance

or the space it inhabits?

When are we hominids expendable?

when we cost too much to the State

in health, pensions and benefits

and stop work or paying taxes.

 

The principle of fleshly aging

is already extant and operative in nature

 - recyclable yet reproductive -

by way of wear and tear,

disease, defects, acts of God and years,

in true measure, duly sustainable.

 

Industry parrots that idea

but in planned, techno, psycho ways

to limit  the life of Things per se

 - things, no longer made to last.

The life of all gadgets and artifacts

becoming necessarily, economically

only viable and disposable

if of limited duration

along with the tacit need to re-buy.

 

In earlier times, constructing to endure

was the aim, practise and policy;

whether pyramids, castles or bicycles,

tools, parts...

 - except respecting our personal selves

as, inversely

with humanities increasing techno-savvy

we ourselves aim for the long haul

regardless of, at the expense of others.

 ….

Only the new gods, us

self-assert rights of longevity.

The conundrum being, to support that

- with all our indispensable attachments,

whilst needing these to be short-term,

regularly thrown away

so investment in newer versions

becomes imperative

as well as ongoingly and profitably marketable for the manufacturers

and their outlets.

 

The days of seasonable goods,

of local produce

of  repair or maintenance

definitely proving at odds

with conglomerate, global trade

 and commercial  principles of reaping

secure and continual benefits...