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No longer sets her bow in huge waves rushing on

This verse was inspired by grandson Mikey when as a small boy he romped on top of the windlass in the bow of HMS ‘Queen Mary’, moored in Long Beach, CA since 1967. Of course ‘sic transit gloria mundi’ ship wise, while Mikey is still in his prime as a young man.

On polished upper decks: splendor & light
a display of power, riches & fame
while in the ship’s belly toiled crew out of sight
Times past like today, remaining the same

In her day the flagship of empire
enterprise, industry & might
albeit were it soon to expire
based more on arrogance than right

Many a storm howled around the crew in the con
No longer sets her bow in huge waves rushing on:

The windlass a stage for a toddler’s romp
as parents watch by gleaming gunnels
Without fail shall fade circumstance & pomp.
The ship a play field with three funnels

Now an amusement park in a disparate age
the ‘Queen Mary’ languishes moored in a zoo’s cage

+)
-funnel = smokestack, especially on a steamship
-gunnels = the upper edge of a ship’s side
-the ‘Queen Mary’ held the ‘Blue Ribbon’ speed record across the Atlantic after averaging 31 knots in 1938, between New York and Southampton

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Guilty if not felt guilt

My sweet childhood culture
made me feel much guilt
vexed me like a vulture
daily, to the hilt

Got me uncertainty inbuilt
of something vaguely guilty
left me watch all self esteem wilt
down to limp fish gefilte

Such rearing brought me to adult life
where it’s causing awkwardness & strife

+)
gefilte fish = a limp, soft dish from grinding several species of fish

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Ravaged planet turns Humanity’s hearse

Am writing here yet another verse
of life languished in delusion
In pretense putrid, pallid & terse
persevered in cold collusion

Make no waves, to go & get along
in narrow self absorbed living
Life squandered for a trinket or song
while pretending no misgiving

Earth’s habitat, turned inside out purse
our children’s lives cannot get worse
Planet becomes Humanity’s hearse
they’ll perish in wailing & curse

rse
they’ll perish in wailing & curse.

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Cowardly disingenuous

Tranquil lakes caressed by playful breeze
below the surface: Stagnation
While waves chase waives across open seas
below: Acidification

Flora, fauna, nature looted
garbage, debris & tailings piling
land, streams, lakes & seas polluted
while spindoctors spred memes beguiling

Heat waves rolling, parched by drought
groundwater depleting
This we have all brought about
and keep right on cheating …

… our children, their future gone
with nowhere left to turn
Our species now clearly done
left but to churn & yearn

Why are we so cowardly disingenuous
ain’t the challenge worthy of action strenuous?!

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Movement fills every moment

Small boys & girls darting on bikes
untiringly they explore
in streets, trekking on backyard hikes
“Watch me! watch me!”, they implore

Hover their ‘hood tiny voices’
Each moment full of movement
in Summer’s endless play choices
Movement fills every moment

Fully one with the moment
Life’s ultimate bestowment

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Fulfillment finally

Been rotating with agility
while precisely ‘hanging in there’
in serviceable docility
next to gurgling porcelain chair

Squeezable white roll flowingly gowned
personality tightly bound
gradually becoming unwound:
Can’t handle one more flushing sound!

Then after no more sheets to be ripped
lost in predicament mirthless:
Tossed away naked to the core, stripped
abandoned, overlooked, worthless

But behold! By a tiny child found
the roll’s core now joyfully blown
Dreams of fulfillment finally crowned:
Roll reborn as gleaming trombone!

 

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Abandoning a generation

While we have of course already effectively abandoned our children and theirs by not doing anything that would significantly mitigate the climate collapse we are also now limiting erstwhile parent-child interaction. The following scenes have become routine in our very own neighborhood, viz.:

Toddler:

Being pushed along in my stroller
with Mom & her Chum the Smart Phone
a Connectedness Highest Roller
as well Dexterous Texting Clone

Child:

Got to join on a walk
with my Dad & his Smart Phone
as long as I don’t talk
may listen to his Ring Tone

Dog:

Got to ride in my People’s car
watched them turn Cyber Unknowns
drove erratically bizarre
while on GPS and phones

All Three, in unison:

While we weren’t by spilled coffee burnt
got covered by crumbs of scones
Most relieved that these ‘adults’ weren’t
piloting surveillance drones …

 

 

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Letting the children choke on our ‘just deserts’!

Lives desiccated deprecated
desecrated by vanity
Human habitat depredated
with hubristic profanity

Most could surely have been averted
yet why do we not feel ashamed?
While a few moved for change concerted
most found wanting – but not all blamed

Too weak to act, lost heart, guts & shirts
Temperatures & oceans rise
Serving on children our ‘just deserts’
heaped in gleaming china of lies

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We clinched Oblivion!

Ending endless wars the sine qua non
for the reining in of the Pentagon

Still we’ll perish in climate collapse
part of the Sixth Mass Extinction
Even if changing as in time-lapse
won’t forestall Species’ eviction

We warred & consumed at our best
clinched Oblivion for the rest!

+)
-sine qua non = a prerequisite
-Sixth (Great) Mass Extinction = In the last half-billion years, life on Earth has been nearly wiped out five times. The planet is now entering the Sixth. Let’s give ourselves a strong hand!
-time-lapse = done by means of time-lapse photography