Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
When my spouse was enthusiastically on a raw food diet:
Dicing
mixing
fixing
whisking!
After peeling
with feeling
not done chopping
til dropping
Yes! resoundingly to: drying
No! abhorrently to: frying
Raised overhead her clenched paw
when serves another meal
Joyce to the world: “All go raw!”
She’s got you a raw deal!
+)
-go raw = here: a raw, i.e. uncooked diet
They watch us picking our nose
in our homes, from outer space
when busy or just wiggling toes
without them leaving a trace
Surveillance is rarely benign
when able tighten our noose
our freedoms, influence decline
Cooked right now: Privacy’s goose
Never again shall our goose flap its wings
never mind how eternally hope springs
Scarab beetles, unsung
fashion nifty balls
roll swiftly home the dung
on star-guided crawls
No need or reason, none at all
got GPS in our cars
for humans to roll any ball
guided by heavenly stars
Like human greed propels
depletion & pollution
our hubris ever swells
assuring retribution
The beetle may still roll its ball
when humans lack clean water
frantic we’ll trash about & crawl
seas rising, climate hotter
+)
Scarab beetle:
https://www.livescience.com/26557-dung-beetles-navigate-stars.html
Saplings needn’t travel the world
they grew in place & peace
while men in youth’s folly whirled
in impatient caprice
Tree and man now old, flagging:
while thick foliage, man’s hair thin
Both bent & sorely sagging
tree still a tree, man mere has-been
Do tell why pursue & rush around
when at perfect peace in our own ground?
We’re jumping into the fray
to injure, use up, jaw
As dawns yet another day
we elbow, step on, claw
One more eight billion people raid
bodies bouncing, minds racing
joy, beauty & sanity fade
never mind what we’re facing:
Species die, forests crumble
all brought down way too fast
Glaciers melt, earthquakes rumble
How long can humans last?
Even so we claim this assault
(as we primp for each next day)
is “no way our doing or fault
so let’s get back in the fray!”
+)
-eight billion = here: the planet’s approx human population
Drilling by heedless fracking
oil is pumped emetic
keeps refineries cracking
in a race frenetic
Now, not until 2030
spills and plastic clog our gills
Earth’s water supply fouled dirty
leaves us sipping noxious spills
Now, not only by 2080
in climate catastrophe rife
comeuppance merciless & weighty
Humans left to horrific strife
Unreflective on how affronts amass:
Hubristic Humanity so crass
keeps making the inappropriate pass
Mother Earth is a virtuous lass
+)
-2030 = read: twentythirty
Some 50 percent of U.S. dogs and cats are now overweight or obese shows a recent study conducted by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. But dogs and cats do have some catching up to do. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the percentage of human adults age 20 years and over who are overweight, including obesity, now stands at 69.2 percent (2009-2010)
On their chomping paths unswerving
lazy pets & owners self-coddling
plumb bodies waddle, out-curving
in ‘putting on weight’ role modeling
Hey humans, wheezing, grasping:
“Eat less, walk & don’t kvetch!”
Hey pets, out of breath gasping:
“Get up, out, run & fetch!”
Clearly pet & owner both
of diet & workouts loath
Fades away the day meekly
sun rays reflect but bleakly
Amidst cold streaking clouds
on Fall-flattened curve
in sky’s metallic shrouds
sets sun with reserve
Its rays turn opaque
sun sinks to rest
Leaving a chilled wake
in West Southwest
Soaked in Autumn’s chilled squalls
from communing skies
trees sway in windy brawls
Pendulous allies …
… wholeheartedly plunging
Daring dance enthralled:
branches wildly lunging
though clashes forestalled
Howling gusts stir up leaves on ground
Dark clouds tear through branches ungowned
Past thinning trees ablaze
on roads wetly glaced
In sunlit lukewarm haze
hills pumpingly paced
Slim tires splashing
through leaves stockpiling
Cyclists dashing
on rides beguiling
Linger the last Autumn days
lustrous, crisply tender
Under Winter’s furtive gaze
fades Fall’s cerise splendor
+)
pumpingly = as in pedaling hard, i.e. ‘pumping’ the pedals