Have your change for the car park ready

We tame the peaks
of our Shangri-las
in cable cars,
enjoy the altitudes
through reinforced glass
Pose for selfies
beneath Wi-Fi masts.

Paradise has Portaloos
flanked by grand views,
ticket stubs littered
‘round toll booths
Burger vans and souvenir stalls,
peddling plush macaws
and snow globe waterfalls.

The Seven Wonders
built by our Ancients
to honour their Deities,
are propped by scaffolds
and scrubbed of graffiti
Eroding tombs
mortared with pixels,
the camera concealing
our feckless footfalls.

These inflated castles in the sky
once so pleasing to the eye,
have been punctured and patched,

Have your change for the car park ready

rebooted and branded
for day-trippers, thrill seekers
team builders, private parties.

Paradise on Earth,
this Shangri-la
marked by road signs and cat’s eyes
every fifty yards:
You are approaching
an area of outstanding natural beauty,
please have your change
for the car park ready.