Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Piercing, plaintive
shrieks of lone seagulls
faint, complaintive
such eerie earfuls
Beneath graphite clouds
on fierce waves metal grey
we’re tightening shrouds
while drenched in lashing spray
Rolling, pitching pinned
on old ship rusty
drifting sideways, downwind
in gale bursts gusty
With hollow hope, we wail
hearts pounding, bones chill
frantically we bail
while bilges still fill
Thus we’re crossing our own Atlantic
getting worn out in pumping frantic
Fall’s last leaf quivers
in duty most steadfast
in chilled winds shivers
determined to outlast
The last leaf on the branch
to past Summer hanging true
A rousing rear guard stance
or just blind loyalty’s glue?
When loses its gallant grip
last one to abandon ship!
Höstens sista bleka blad
skälver i enslig parad
Sista bladet på grenen
till den flydda sommarn lojal
eller endast en sen en?
Nej, ett oförvitligt livsval:
Sist att tappa greppet!
Sist att lämna skeppet!
Att söka leva självkritisk
hellre än som ‘idiot’
som håller sej opolitisk
beträffande miljöhot
Att vi bör ej bränna fossilt alls
redan av Arrhenius förutspått
men vi dansar förnekelsens vals
drumliga, tondöva i miljöbrott
när nu i mänsklighetens kvällning
krävs genomgripande omställning!
+)
-Svante Arrhenius = svensk kemist-fysiker som i 1896 publicerade en vetenskaplig klimatmodel som visar inflytandet av CO2 på atmosfären
-‘idiot’ = här: från grekiska ‘egen’; syftar på någon som inte tar ansvar i samhället
Annoyed in silence we sulk
with feeling have been offended
Perhaps glad at chance to skulk
mope in victimhood pretended?
Feel we’re not being treated right?
What if we are?! Here’s what ought unnerve:
imagine how severe our plight
if receive what we rightly deserve
when we’re lashing out at every ‘offense’
in thin-skinned, callow, ego-fueled pretense!
+)
victimhood = the kind that declares that “if I feel like a victim then I am a victim”
Our son had to evacuate in the recent CA wildfires
No polite little hint
or mere nudge effete
Open your eyes, don’t squint:
Fistful of browbeat!
The wildfire
its scorching flames
deadly, dire
steady its aims
Soon shall burn again
not wise to remain
Erstwhile restraint all gone
guts soft, hearts hardened
Attempting every con
foul fallout pardoned
Society’s strands frayed
way beyond hope of repair
From empathy’s path strayed
face down in ditch of despair
Sunk in our armchair
‘thinking’ now as the herd
Watching the fanfare
until our vision blurred
Been living sardined
soon dying demeaned
+)
-fanfare = here: the ostentatious political lies, media propaganda, endless entertainment, commercials etc
-sap = (slang) a fool; sucker; dupe
-sardined = in cramped, hampered conditions, here: as far as outlook, perspective, context
In all around us collapse
humans best at our worst
In reoccurring relapse
a Species sadly cursed
Our worst foot forward
acting when not knowing
Drifting back shoreward
‘progress’ never slowing
Watch our denial glisten
as we refuse to listen!
We had even planned on expansion
but no longer making the grade
Since lost our overblown McMansion
now dwell in ‘hovel’ without maid
Reality, not erstwhile charades,
humiliating and novel
Tumbling hard in Free Market cascades
spoiled lives crashed now have to grovel
No longer fine china afternoon tea
got dumped hard into Actuality
+)
McMansion = or Starter Castle
Efforts effete about the climate
and growing inequality
while for a neo-Nazi Heimat
abounds power and polity
about endless warfare
ever pushing containment
From our comfy armchairs
such splendid entertainment
Empire’s proud minions cruel
hardened hearts steeped in myth
splash in consumer cesspool
Unease gnaws on our pith …
… when reduced to watch the next wildfire
and the nuclear race on high wire