Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Poems in English
When a car drives by
‘Diminutive Doggie’
gives instant chase. Why?
Due to thinking foggy
Feels compelled to chase
she runs off & away
with more grit than grace
looks not much like ballet
While chases with plenty pluck
stirring up dusty buzz
still hasn’t caught a car or truck
And if she ever does:
here we pose a stupendous stumper
would she lick or bite the rear bumper?
In this world newfangled
the roots of inequality
run deep, twisted, tangled
enmeshed in frivolity
Kept the hope of the poor stifled
while by the powerful rifled
Amidst proficiency flagging
easy slide in to anxiety
that shall blindly keep on nagging
in profligacy & piety
But able to write
albeit found as trite
blessed daily rite
Don’t worry won’t recite
while I’ve no urge to abscond
to write righteous rhymes Beyond
Global warming
A bike dealer who mentions global warming may indeed be guilty of the same self serving cheap promotion as the car dealership, which flies an over sized American flag or the politician who presumes to speak for ‘all hardworking folks’.
Be this as it may, the earth is “on the verge of disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control, causing mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.”
James Hansen, the chief climate scientist at NASA, returned to Capitol Hill in June, on the twentieth anniversary of his 1988 testimony, to indeed warn that the earth is on the verge of “disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control,” causing “mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.”
Obviously no amount of bicycling shall reverse or by itself significantly slow the spiraling.
Nothing shall. Short of perhaps radical life style changes right now, which clearly ain’t happening.
But for all its horror I’d personally rather know than living in denial of my own betrayal of future generations. Being only one of some 7 billions humans cannot lessen my complicity. I have sadly done nothing beyond mildly inconveniencing myself regarding arguably the greatest calamity that can possibly face life on planet Earth.
Q: “Why are you not putting on a mask?”
A: “I’m not culpable for your health
I’m self-reliant, so do not ask
also won’t be blamed for my wealth!”
If this is how some of us are
how did we stray so deep & far?
Q: “Still thinking we’re better than this?”
A: “We’re no effete Swedes or feeble French
so, World, come give U.S. a kiss!”
(albeit amidst conceited stench)
Thus we keep up the narrative:
Pretending to empathize
high-handed & declarative
averting our empty eyes
Masklessness leaves the Covid threat cowardly vague
while masked have we not faced that we’re all in a plague?
In my erstwhile fast life bested
was constantly contested
Decades since my life crested
still feel oddly untested
As path ahead darkens congested
the present by my past infested
Armored in dress-for-success clothes
limbering our lashing tongue
cleansed out our bargain-sniffing nose:
Ready reach for the next rung!
Sharpened our elbows
we’re ready to impose
If need be bulldoze
in order to foreclose
Brashly we sally, again, out the door
as clueless as ever of what’s in store
Yes, too much to ask:
Don’t interfere
we won’t wear a mask
too cavalier!
Then haven’t we sacked
any & all fact?
With all lies stacked
lost all sense & tact?
Facts are too socialist & abstract
won’t let such ungodliness detract!
I regularly pedal up a steep, narrow, winding, two-way, two-lane road occasionally ‘causing’ drivers to wait due to oncoming traffic before passing me. Judging from some cars ‘riding my rear fender’ & the rare occasional driver’s remark or gesture perhaps I’m viewed by some drivers as an annoying traffic impediment? Others may perhaps be capable of ‘feeling my pain’ (here in aging legs & lungs), while by most ignored? So goes our human experience at large.
One irate driver yelling
“You’re obstructing traffic!”
on mission Cyclist Quelling
then adds gesture graphic
While another in civil quirk
rather cheers my modest pace
by affably calling “Good work!”
with welcomed patience & grace
Thus the human clash goes
between those empathetic
and those in restless throes
sounding off homiletic
Of course up to anyone exposed
to try act safely & stay composed
As a ‘meat lover’
I crave & ache
and left to hover
til teeth in steak
Won’t go without
meat which my sweet treat
Surely bean sprout
not been grown to eat?
What’s a slaughtered calf or cow
must we not all die somehow?