Tag Archives: climate

AUTUMN IS IN THE AIR

Acrylic on canvass, self-portrait, louise Annarino

Cold air is heavier.

Its density 

has a propensity

to hold us in place,

inside,

asleep.

It is enough

to make one weep

who loves the heat.

I welcome it

for its cooling property, 

its innate ability

to calm and soothe

the painful reality

of an overheated,

seemingly defeated,

world once at peace.

Oh, it was but a brief

moment in time

when hope was alive

and the country thrived,

and nations strived

to help democracy

overcome autocracy.

But, I digress

under great stress.

Cold air is weighted

with shards of ice

torn loose from northern fields,

with such power to wield

that it weighs down sunrise,

to no one’s surprise.

It puts the worker bees to sleep.

They awaken inside flowers

lacking the power

to find their way to their hives.

Cold air makes dreams

more difficult to bear,

their messages too heavily aware

of all the world’s problems

fair and unfair.

Autumn is here

and the world bows down

under the new weight.

Winter is not far away.

I cannot wait!

As sun rises the only sound

is the song of geese southward bound.

I place the heating pad round

a sore back from bending down

to plant bulbs squirrels have already found.

Soon, snow will coat the frozen ground.

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THE RAINS CAME AND CAME AND CAME

Photo by Bud Jenkins on Pexels.com

We keep thinking

it cannot become any worse

this placid earth 

awash in excess or in drought.

Hibiscus big as dinner pates

strung among drenched leaves,

hangs in drooping loops to the ground.

Sun makes its way warily

through clouds weighing the sky down,

new-born leaves water-logged and drowned.

The heavy weight of watered threats

is nearly too much to bear.

Too heavy to breathe, saturated, air

keeps me waiting inside,

Parched lips and  dry-aged skin

too thin to accept such weight again,

hangs loose, losing all pride;

jealous of the hibiscus

which still stands tall

strong enough to resist it all.

I anxiously await a break in the clouds,

days of hope and rest in the sun.

Even the earth is in tears these days.

Like a child I hold my sign and sing aloud

“Rain, rain, go away. Come again

another day.” Or not. Never again

should we women and men

so misbehave and reduce our gardens to tears.

Photo by Mariya B. on Pexels.com

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SNOW!

We often think that Spring brings our first hopes

of a new life, a new world, a new cause to celebrate.

We need not wait for Spring to hope.

Eight inches of snow fell silently and cloaked

the surfaces of note that set our scene,

a scene fearfully bleak which clouds all thoughts

of a fearless life, and hides the fear which lies below

our greatest hopes, limited by what, we do not know.

We fear the worst after watching the news

meant to keep us watching, our nerves hanging on every word.

Snow!

Snow changes our landscape in a moment.

The deeper the snow, the greater the wind, 

the more we see of all the possibilities 

to change the world we ache to know.

All darkness and decay disappears by end of day.

White whorls of snow cover every branch of every tree,

and shrub and shed. No tracks yet made by others 

who share this place with me.

The sun rises in  a fiercely blue sky and tracks appear

upon the new world of white light strewn across its face.

Snow!

Snow allows us to dream we can make all clean.

Our purity glows within each crystal caught by sunlight,

raising our spirits, capturing our innocence.

We believe we can change, too. All is right in a world draped in white.

My first hope does not wait for Spring.

It comes alive at the sight of the first big snow.

Snow reminds me that landscapes can change swiftly,

purely, beautifully aglow. Even war’s wounded landscapes

appear at peace when covered in snow.

Impoverished neighborhoods where crime rules breathe softly covered in snow.

Snow!

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SUMMER

Photo by Hassan OUAJBIR on Pexels.com

Summer wears her heart on her sleeve.

Her false smiles and beguiling ways

encourages all to believe

that she is available to play flirtatious games. 

But, know that Summer will always have her way.

She drags us away from kitchens, desks 

and comfy chairs out into her garden on display.

She allows us to become more aware

of her silken charms directed our way.

Droughts and cloudbursts,

sun that brightens and burns our skin,

Allergens and particulates that settle within

make it hard to breathe in her presence.

Her insects sting and guilelessly bite

while Summer’s flower-perfumed essence

awakens and entreats our most intimate senses.

It would be so easy to love Summer. She puts us to the test

against Autumn, Winter and Spring as to whom we love best.

Summer has become a little too free for me.

I prefer a season who holds back her charms

and grants me shy glimpses which raise no alarms.

As Earth heats Summer’s gaze, subtlety fades  away.

Summer has become almost too bold,

too sure of her dominance, too unsafe

to simply play our Summers away.

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WOMAN STRONG

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

Women fret and stew because they feel

with blood and sinew, hands and heels.

Each breath they take is a timeless hold

on the history of family and friends so bold

it carries all aloft to a future filled with bliss.

The nesting instinct is nothing less

than continuation of species and best

embraced and supported as what it is;

our best hope for survival in peace,

in world fractured by power and greed.

Women seize their freedom in both hands.

Women march and take stands against tyranny.

Women need never ask for self-rule of their bodies.

They already hold their own agency.

Only blind men fail to see

powerful women could set them free.

WE ARE THE WORLD

Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

While children here sing

“Rain, rain go away.

“Come again another day.”

China seeds the clouds above

and firefighters ask for aid

to battle flames that spread so wide

there is no place for lungs to hide.

Fragile systems bend and break

as I lie in my bed alert, awake

to all the trauma in the world;

clutching hands which hold out hope

to help heal damage beyond their scope.

All that seems real are nerves afray

and hands held in prayer for better days.

For days when birds again find their way

among the butterflies and bees.

When war engines fall into disrepair

and children frolic and play free

of worries that hide 

in thoughts of suicide.

We are the world. The world is us.

the world hangs in the balance

of hands held in trust.

Reach out your hands enjoined to others.

Earth’s survival truly depends on us.

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w’s


Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com

what use words

when loneliness fills

wells long in drought

where the only wet thing

wipes ink on the page

while we die of thirst

waiting.

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LIFE BLOOD

Photo by Ali Sufian Saghar on Pexels.com

Rivers flow with water and blood

above earth’s bedrock and my own

carved out from the beat of a steady flow.

Banks erode, sometimes 

bursting,  or crumbling slow.

Older beds are no longer smooth;

broken branches snagged

and embedded roughly in the 

now-gravelled surface below.

My skin and earth’s, bruised

and channeled by our river’s glow.

As the drying out continues

to thicken and slow 

river’s course is brought low.

Finally, so dry it comes to an end

and our efforts to amend

cannot stop its final show.

Dried rivers of water or of blood

cannot sustain life

while we foolishly wonder

“Where did the rivers go?”

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CALM AND COOL HOPES

Photo by Mayu on Pexels.com

The heat of the night

left a scorched dawn.

Crimson and gold flames

marched across earth’s brow.

Silence held court

over insect and birdsong.

Canons blew measured beats

throughout the night to face

ceasefire at dawn.

Even the cicadas are silenced

under the strain of clouds

threatening a refrain of rain

over and over and over again.

The battlefield of flowers 

hold the whispered beat

of life-sounds’ defeat.

There is a beauty to such calm

where life is pinned down

to lie in wait for safe return

of cooler days and nights.

One could choose weariness.

One could choose delight.

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LETTER TO THE YOUNG AMONG US

Photo by Frank Cone on Pexels.com

Rain has ceased her assault for now,

broken records shattered faith 

in weather patterns, and how!

Streets flooded and gardens submerged.

Waves above plants crested and surged.

Climate change shows the fruitless folly

of distracted senses unable to observe

nothing that matters more

then destructive weather battering the door.

Mother Nature refuses to give up on us,

On Earth’s survival and our own.

She bellows and blows

to drive her message home.

The nihilism of our young is no surprise

as they watch all they knew of truth and honor die.

The hopefulness of youth also decries

the callow acceptance of loss

by ancient leaders who fail to count the cost

as their years surmount their reason

in their final season.

Time to allow youth its voice

and watch them lead us forward

to a better choice.

Allow youth to set aside 

the greedy old clinging to their wealth;

as if wealth, not life, is the real prize.

Stay strong young sons and daughters.

These old bones are counting on you

to laugh and love, to plant and grow

a world much better than we have left behind.

I salute you and offer you

all the wisdom you can unwind

from old codgers 

with weak limbs, but loving minds.

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FAHRENHEIT 100

Another day stowed away

behind blinds and shades.

Temperatures soar in humid waves

as power grids fail day after day.

Brave crews I toast,

working hard as they roast,

laboring on lines to restore

the comfort we take for granted.

For granted, no more

as climate alters patterns of yore.

Excessive heat drenched in storms

with wild winds galore

bearing Earth’s pain on each blow.

Too cold in Winter.Too hot in Summer.

Spring and Autumn lie low.

Earth may be restored;

but, will we remain?

Feel earth’s pain.

It is now our own.

Photo by Ralph W. lambrecht on Pexels.com

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