Concrete Utopia
- bloodlustmagazine
- 6 hours ago
- 1 min read
Concrete Utopia
Written by Breezy Jewel
Risen from blood-soaked plains and riverbanks,
Liquid hope poured into wooden frames
Then hardened into what many could believe to be the shape of harmony,
Or, at the very least, a mold that somewhat resembled it.
These cities grew, in curves, in spaceships,
Not for gods nor kings,
But for balconies meant to face the same sun,
For halls wide enough for everyone to enter.
The concrete was never meant to be cold,
It was meant to remember.
This is what the world will tell you is evil-
And so the cracks came quietly while the maps grew teeth.
This unity, this foundation, became archived,
These monuments confused but still standing.
It was meant to last, and instead
Remains stubbornly as a memorial of a practiced tomorrow,
Optimism once proudly rehearsed.
The rain learned all their names,
The moss moved in,
The cameras flashed, labeled it
Post-something. Post-everything. “Brutal” and “alien.”
A future that never had the chance to exhale.
-Breezy Jewel, on the architecture under the socialist regime of Yugoslavia in the 20th century