Something in the background
is wholly occupied
to find more
and more intricate ways
to extract our energies.
What started out
as mere harnessing
of a latent threat
became an active extortion
of our possibilities.
A wringing stranglehold.

To that something
we are no more than raw materials
and vats to be tapped.
It may even be
a welded-in part
of the human hierarchical structure.
Our social architecture
past and present
has always formed
these exclusive factions
that have constricted their purpose
to the inhumane.

People are processed in refineries
where they shall be rinsed
from all impurities.
Cleansing, flushing and disinfecting
our freedom, autonomy
and every sense of prospect.

And they have names for us all.
For our types.
Categories.
Sections.
Divided and torn
into graded fuel classes.
Clustered by intended purpose
and projected application.
Corralled into cities
with well segregated sectors
that facilitate the harvesting
of our juices.
It is no accident
that we are feeling more isolated
and clearly directed
to our egocentric impulses.
The meat
is being tenderised.

We are openly collected
and we represent a value
that is only expressed
in numeric terms.
It is a conversion
of flesh into gold.
Crude alchemy.