Tag Archives: floods

DISGRACE

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Particulate matter coats the ground,

by heavy Canadian smoke held down.

Air, we can no longer safely breathe,

offers Earth’s creatures no reprieve.

Birds spread apart on lowest branches

of shrubs and trees,

avoiding any stirring up of a breeze.

There are no flights on days such as these.

Mother Nature always finds a way 

to protect herself from us,

from humans afraid to stir up a fuss;

with too much arrogance to set aside

a fossil fuel economy oiled by greed and pride

replaced with green energy that could make us stronger.

Humans, we simply cannot wait any longer 

to embrace Mother Nature’s  feminine grace,

and admit we humans must stay in our place.

We now live, if we can survive,

in frustrated and abject disgrace.

It is past time to set such foolishness aside.

We must admit Mother Nature is truly on our side.

Storms and floods, fires and eruptions

put us on notice we face self-destruction.

Earth is running a fearsome race

to save a planet, despite our disgrace.

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THE RAINS CAME AND CAME AND CAME

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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.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

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The man who lived in the desert

had never seen a world full of green promise.

The man who lived in the rainforest

had never seen the sun-burnt-out grass.

The man who lived on icy planes so white

kept his eyes half-closed to protect his sight.

The man who lived in the dark cave

kept torches burning to light his way.

Until now.

Now, that the ice has melted,

the cave has flooded,

roots rot green fields, soil turned to clay,

and winds blow the desert away.

Across the planet men are in dismay.

Now, each man is on the move

looking for a new safe place.

Earth trembles beneath the feet 

of so many on the move.

Too many play ring-around-the rosy days of yore

until we all fall down.

There is no going back.

There is only today.

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REMEMBER THE TREES

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Never forget the trees.

Soon all we may have of them

are distant memories.

They seemed so stolid and secure,

able to bow but seldom break

in heavy winds, for centuries before

we all but ignored the earth

below and skies above

which clasped their roots

in iron bonds of love,

and watered them with gentled rains

formed in clouds of warmth 

passing over frozen ice fields again

and again and again.

We have become uprooted as well.

The treasures of nations replaced 

by campaigns of disinformation

to make us not pay attention

to earth’s disposable survival.

Lake Mead dries up

while Kentuckians and Pakistanis

flee to higher ground

and thousands hunger 

for grains of  wheat and barley and rye.

Hunger and thirst are pandemic.

There is no real question why.

Only, why have we waited so long to try

to change our senseless 

and destructive ways.

Remember the trees, and ocean’s waves,

and fields of red poppies and lavender,

and groves of olives and vines of grapes.

Remember the trees

on fire or drowning

as we soon may be.

Remember the trees.

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WE FORGET WE ARE ANIMALS

We forget we are animals

defined by our biology,

determined in our theology

to become gods.

We claim supremacy

in our ability to reason.

Thus, science is treason

to our basest animality.

There is no true supremacy

in puppies seeking comfort in the pack,

but a leader holding back

its basest urges so they thrive.

Their is no supremacy among ants

plundering crumbs left behind

by birds with greater speed

after picnickers have had their feed.

Like puppies, birds and ants

we seek opportunity

and shared camaraderie

in order to survive.

Supremacy would deplete our strength,

interrupt the flow of shared effort,

deprive us of the joy of joint accomplishment.

It would make us less and steal our comfort.

Science steps in to stop such a fray

using reason to light our way.

Science untended 

leaves a world upended.

Viral storms circle the globe

behind fires and drought,

rain and flood,

leaving illness and death.

Economies fall before we do

onto bended knees of recovery.

Myths replace stories

as reason loses glory.

We forget we are animals at our own peril. 

We must forgo supremacy

to sustain democracy.

We must remember who we are.

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