|
Environmental Poetry
these are pooesm that have a fairly clear environmental focus. However, all things are connected, and our emotional state, and the way we understand our place in the world, and our relationshipo with the spiritual all affect our behaviours and our perceptions of the environment as well as other things. If you like these poems and want to explore an environmental consciousness (as i have evolved mine) further, click on the links at the end of this page.
I hope you enjoy my poetry and that it brings you some insights to combine with your own life experience and intuitive wisdom.
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS June, 1994.
Cities have big ecological footprints
meaning they need a big patch of Earth to provide what they need
farms forests oceans mountains of metal ore oil fields water supply
and a big patch of Earth to clean up their wastes
plastic polluted rivers sewage polluted rivers oceans atmospheric gases
and lots of people
PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE addictions out of touch try to survive look out for number one
and it takes a lot of little towns to feed the cities needs
then buy back everything at added value
and live on less than city folk
then they feed in their children
and as long as they keep breeding the empire survives
Bigger cities have larger footprints than smaller ones
more decadent read rich ones larger than more frugal
If we hit the wall
can cities realistically survive?
Charlie loves the culture
many love the security of paper money urban jobs
but that doesn't mean squat if things aren't flowing in
and out
And so i wonder
if we really wanted to
could we make cities sustainable?
Rooftop gardens
tear up half the streets for parks wheat goats
cut consumption by half
and even so, with solar panels everywhere
and biogas fuels cooking food
in homes heated by the sun or local biomass
is it possible
to have a small enough footprint to survive
in a very different future?
I guess we'll see, won't we?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRACE FOR GADO GADO
Broccoli spear, zucchini
peanut, sprout,
carrot, pea, potato.
I know you didn’t live for this.
I know your dreams
were about making fruit
or seeds
and spreading by wind blow
or colonization
or bird dropping
to take over as much of the world
of life and soil as possible
and mostly
as a kind of biological bottom line
to be able to perpetuate yourself
and survive yourself
as your offspring.
Sorry broccoli stem.
That dream will not be for you
though I am sure your species is secure.
For you there is only this –
to become part of my life
part of my flesh
and to travel with me.
Perhaps I will procreate
and we can live on as humans
through generations.
perhaps not.
Either way we will feed worms
and bacteria
become carbon dioxide
and wind
returning to God
no matter what.
You are welcome to join me.
I hope you will choose
to blend your soul with mine
to try life as a human
and together welcome other friends
without whose lives
we would die in days.
Life becomes life.
Death begets life.
I honor your life and death
your aspirations and your fate
I will honor your tribe
remember my dependency
acknowledge the transience
of my material existence
and life force
which comes only from the sun
through those of tribes such as yours
for which I am grateful
until death do us part.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOPE (Fall, 1993)
PART I THE PROBLEM
Here it comes
uncover your eyes and see
population times expectation
will not be curbed by me
Seven billion and growing
cost of living raise at least
both trends are part visceral
more animal than these words
our species has no predator
save self
each other and our mistakes
in a 100,000 year history
we have selected for success
never built in a buffer balance check
to keep us ecologically secure
in eras of war
cultures cull their needs
Before napalm, tanks and agent orange
the land was left healthy
by the culling of men
i am a product of west european culture
we learned how to breed
how to raise live cubs to adulthood
we never learned how to keep balance with nature
how to keep balance without war
expansion was used
and clever inventions
to spread and expand
both our numbers and wants
other cultures expanded
for low tech defense
for something to do
for hope one child will live
or for social esteem
and the forest gets smaller
the land washes or blows to the sea
landfills get fuller
rivers taste of factories
and there are more people here all the time
cultural inertia
means different things different places
all pushing this disease
different cultural reasons
the result is the same
force of life gets weaker
as we accelerate down the hill
with what destination?
survival is basic
more for species than self
insane selfish nations
mean spit in life's eye blink
whose legacy exists
successfully recreated yesterday
having an easy life
scores little with evolution
baby million year species
learn from fifty million year loons
not to tinker in ways
that will lead to your doom.
PART II THE FUTURE THE ISSUES
i used to worry
that we were powerful enough
to destroy life altogether
we are.
but i don't think it is likely
one certain life place
ecosphere earth
pulsing blue white green gaia
mother planet we know
if this is all the life that exists
as well it might be
does it matter if life here survives?
something inside feels yes
life matters
feels yes more when i feel like rejoicing
with that gratitude and gladness
for life
shown by a chickadee's every breath
but i don't think life is at risk
we could mess things up bad
we have and we will
but the determination to survive
is strong in all species
and i do not believe
our malice and greed
will end all animals
or replace all wild plants
and what survives our demise
will have the chance to recover and evolve
100,000 year history
has no memory
for most
of a place or a time
when the limits were ever reached
because war or expansion
or other death did the job
which some fantasize management
can do for us now
i don't believe it
our numbers will increase
our throughput will too
when the individual portion contracts
the choice will not be our own
as do most social cynics
i call this realism and sanity
if you take your hands off your eyes
it is plain to see what is coming
fear and greed have us blindered
aye but life will survive
i searched two months in windy fleshy stars
to know if life was safe
until finally the answer felt in me
that we'd have to really try
to beat life's determination
and that can't make anyone great gobs of money
so the worst will not come
PART III BUT WHAT ABOUT HUMANS
what about humans?
what will happen to us?
at worst it's extinction
don't feel bad homer
ninety nine point nine per cent of species never see a million years
we've already had one point one
next it's suffering for all
because you can't get gas for your car
and there's no food to eat
then more active four horsemen
will select some survivors
to evolve if they can
we're pretty adaptive
true needs are quite low
when we've done fighting for luxuries
the crunch will come
it's still pretty funny
as i crystal ball in my head
will the poor kill the rich
or will they just starve instead?
who will survive
i have trouble to say
how many is easier
about one fifth of today
there will be hunger and pain
disease war and mass graves
there will be social upheaval
in many many places
historically speaking it isn't a big deal
except to the hungry and dying
on the page of today
so i don't worry about humans
see, i think our lives will be much better
beyond this shock to the system
which brings priorities and place
jerks us back to reality
where we must be what we must be
which is much like a chickadee
or a loon or an eagle
or nonflying species people
who live with the earth
PART III THE STRATEGY MY RESULT
and if humans are ok
what is the struggle for?
protect fellow species
bits and pieces of earth life
so that all are still here
when the rejuvenation begins
biodiversity protected to preserve
all our teachers and workmates
and tuned in companions
and we need to develop new models
ignored by most in our day
which show how to live
in an ecologically rational way
preparing this culture
for the time of collapse
that is the task at hand
protect enough of the mother
to allow fast restoration
and prepare a way of being
that those who survive
can flourish with
some will call it a disaster
i call it preparing to come home
it will be a foundational event
in most human cultures
different perhaps about as much as tales of that flood
we may be forced to be alive again
i will not call that a disaster
i'll call it HOPE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODE TO POTATOES
Give me potatoes
My growth food
When I’m feeling sick
Or slothful.
Boil up a batch for me healthy
Potatoes like mom fed me
Seven or six times aweek
From her garden
Or a garden like hers
Could be my garden
Or the garden next door.
Nice prairie tubers
With a bit of dirt dust on
For more mineral nutrition.
Health food?
Potatoes, man!
I grew up on them
My body knows them like an old friend
Other species mom
Kept me fed
Kept me growing
Vitamins?
Keep your chocks chewable
Generic brand name factory produced crap
While I chew a potato skin
On my boiled fork mash em down
Put butter on em potatoes.
Feel the vitamins
Like shouting halleluyah
At spud porphets
Who lay skkin on your taste buds
And make you well!
Give me potatoes, man,
Food of humble gods
Repaste of healthy thoughtful kinds
I want them grown near home
by people who love the land
and feed their families
with the sweat paper money
I give to buy
that staple food
potatoes.
I plant some in my garden every year
just to make sure I know who I eat
And that I contribute to their survival
Their potato culture
Healthy, rooted, Earth Child potatoes!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAN WAS MAD
Dan was mad
the hearings were loaded
development bias strong
what else is new?
its an environental impact assessment!
the idea is
that development is ok
unless it is directly and definitely destructive
right here
WE AREN'T RESPONSIBLE FOR SAFETY STANDARDS IN OTHER PLACES
sure uranium is destroying communities all over the world
and here too
BUT YOU CAN'T TURN BACK THE CLOCK
NO ONE CAN PROVE DAMAGES
though tourists won't come to northern lakes
inland fish won't sell to southern homes
and local people won't hunt the caribou
from the area of the mines
NO ONE CAN PROVE DAMAGE
no you bastards
though the miners lose their culture
if they stay in the mines
during fishing season
through festivals
and birthdays
or lose their jobs if they keep their culture
When you fish you go together.
Pick berries together
on the shady forest floor
talking joking friends
feel the wind in your hair carrying songs of warblers
loving your togetherness
taking in the world
with a gleam in your eye
and your child at your side
NO ONE CAN PROVE DAMAGES
because no real studies have been done
except one which banned fishing
in BeaverLodge Lake
Dan was mad
and i told him to be nice
as panels go
this one was good
asking better questions
and moving the establishment focus
closer to reality morality
naturally they didn't go nearly far enough
hopefully they don't take it personally
hopefully they see
more than a flake
who wants a fantasy
hopefully the other environmentalist speakers
were no doubt emotional
but presented it wrapped in wisdom
used it to garnish alternatives
with their vulnerable beating hearts
hopefully they aren't lumped in
and written off as flakes
as has happened too often before
if only inertia could be exploded with one little finger
to fix it all in one shot
to give people in power
the shake they really deserve
and some instant priorities
(and not from duncan hines or kraft)
so i guess i understand
even if i did not agree
when he gave these well meaning
though culturally restricted men in suits
his summary
of one middle finger pointing at the sun
Dan felt better
for a minute
felt like he could smile
then cry
again
still powerless
twisting in the wind
as the fingered suit people
decide whether or not
to break his heart
more importantly
they needed to decide
with their collective wisdom taught from birth in grad school
and days earning a salary and respect in the system
and a few days of testimony from people
most of whom were not what they had been taught to respect
to decide
whether more uranium mines
will kill northern rivers
whose judgement should they trust?
Note: whether the finger was useful or not, the report went much farther than any other report to date, condemning monitoring procedures, the science used to set standards, the dearth of baseline information. They actually recommended that some "developments" not happen, that others be postponed for proof of the success of some experiments with tailings, and that the ones that went ahead be monitored by boards which included environmentalists and northerners. Finger or not. Naturally the province and the feds ignored all that and approved the mines anyway, but the culture is changing - it is at least one finger closer to spiritual resuscitation and sanity.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOUTHERN NORTHERN FRIENDS
I am worried about the birds
Especially shorebirds.
Their winter homes are mostly gone
The sloughs they used in staging flight
are gone around our farm.
like most people’s farms for many miles along their flyway.
I see that field where I saw two Godwits
feeding among undignified geese
Later I saw a man spraying To Kill Things -
the food things for Godwits and other shorebirds.
Shorebirds I was awaiting
rugged vagabonds
overdue for arrival at my home.
These guests visiting joyfully on their way
from southern winter homes
through this land
to other places I often dream of visiting
where these and other friends
have babies on mystical shorelines
where the work and love of ancestors
is honored in a rugged dance
o fulfillment exultation fear dangers
and what humans might call gratitude
fr their chance to live
and be
a shorebird.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREATING CULTURE
All cultures were once founded by a group of people
Was there one accepted leader
one light voice among the dark
or how many friends discussed and found their way?
Was it through mimicking strong neighbors
then stronger as it grew
until hundreds of examples
mingled argued into one
one coherent set of customs
one functional creed of life
or did some king impose it on all?
There's much to learn from gypsies
and as much to learn from Sikhs
and somewhere beyond tommorrow
is a discussion of our hopes
that I hope will lead us home.
Home for those who would be wanderers
home for those who would grow still
home for all of us who want to live in peace
peace between non-fractious neighbors
peace inside our selves and homes
we can make a pattern that we all prefer
Reach for success
when it is near
when visions are clear and possible
don't waver weaken worry
and lose your momentum voice
life is not a rollercoaster
not meant for others to defile you
or herd you
but most of us choose to be herded by some leader
chosen or unchosen
known or beyond awareness
decisions are taken and a pattern is imposed
Choose freedom
speaks the bird's flight
make choices for yourself
we can make a pattern we prefer
And when we have a culture
gypsy sioux or buddha like
we can call our friends among us
if they'll come.
Someone made the diggers
someone created themselves Jews
it's time we create something they can name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ODE TO IF I'D DIED IN 1993
HE TRIED TO DO HIS PART
HE DIED
HE DOESN'T NEED A JOB ANYMORE
HE'S OFF THE GRID
(this was an exercise we did in visualizing what we would like a memorial to us to say.
It was a relaxation stop in a very intense meeting)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More poetry.
|
