Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Humans hardly benign
perhaps not evil
while by will or design
still just primeval?
As when in jam exigent
without known precedent
why’s our response negligent
cowardly hesitant?
Is planet Earth merely God’s petri dish?
Humans his experiment with death wish?
Overseas millions killed, maimed
Their plight we belittle
concern rarely even feigned
to change noncommittal
Worn narrative straining
nation’s honor stained
In an empire waning
integrity sprained
The President’s smooth hollow words
just shows up paralysis
whether on climate, jobs or Kurds
Bring on urinalysis:
Enough specious words
by Ivy League nerds!
+)
-president = written originally under Obama
-urinalysis = here: to identify those ‘high’ on Imperial hubris
Stolid Sweden 1950:
Grandma daily read the news
Life then was safe, sane & nifty
even so she ‘cried the blues’
Bemoaned through ages old persons:
“What’s it coming to this world?”
Alarming how quick it worsens
changes nakedly unfurl!
These days no longer perception
It’s here: Impending Collapse
way beyond aging’s deception
For humans its ‘bugling taps’ …
Images of their lives short & wretched
then slaughter’s horror for animals
indelible impressions sizzle etched
From where springs our human animus?
Aren’t we bereft of compassion
raising them as mere food ration?
Clearly meat eating replete
with daily cruelty?
Mustn’t chewing ‘factory meat’
place hearts in truancy?
Which goes for swilling dairy
if on human behalf
should we not all be wary
unless a nursing calf?
“But we like meat & dairy!” Good grief!
Won’t you grasp animals aren’t our beef?
Instead thrive on flowing wheat
lustrous, delectable
and the fresh & brimming sweet
fruit & vegetable!
Our Species’ great distinction
is to precipitate
the Sixth Great Mass Extinction
which just won’t mitigate
It’s been portending
trending since long
Soon it’ll be ending
horridly wrong
Here is what it shall entail
no mere innuendo:
‘going out of business’ sale
in screeching crescendo
Whether found untoward
still Apocalypse
in climatic discord
Then Necropolis
In the final crunch
we’ll be checking plugs, cords
(cluelessly lack hunch)
in vain pounding keyboards
Amidst the climate collapse
all left is to implore
in a last breath bugling taps:
“It used to work before!”
+)
-Sixth great mass extinction = The planet has gone through five ‘great mass extinctions’ over the past some 440 million years, each of which is thought to have annihilated anywhere from 50 to 95 percent of all species on the planet. We are now well into
best shut up, be nice!
Let’s just keep on racing
on lake’s melting ice
Though species are abating
let’s collude: All is cool!
and ain’t polite berating
denial’s nonplussed fool
What’s the need to be realistic
when we can just stay optimistic?
Throughout history of cultures
humans have brought agony
Tearing asunder like vultures
and seldom showing mercy
Egos flare while hearts still yearn
to mire us in conflict
now getting too late to learn
to help, and not inflict
Life lost in bickering
Solidarity’s warm lights
have long been flickering
collapse nibbled, now it bites
Even with our planet crumbling
why aren’t our failings found humbling?
The scam & sham of COP 21
where delegates flocked as vermin
ain’t of climate change a coping one
or healing a planet squirming
A mere shirking ‘pretend solution’
of verbiage infused delusion
+)
COP 21 = the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris
Spent its vitality
Winter’s worn dulled paws
scratching in rivalry
with Spring’s fresh crisp claws
Ushers warmth’s renewal
along roads drying
blossoms in accrual
while snow melts crying
Spring’s playful winds tender
beginning to blow
sweeping budding splendor
where flowers soon grow
Spent its vitality
Winter’s worn dulled paws
scratching in rivalry
with Spring’s fresh crisp claws
Ushers warmth’s renewal
along roads drying
blossoms in accrual
while snow melts crying
Spring’s playful winds tender
beginning to blow
sweeping budding splendor
where flowers soon grow
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