Not Poetry. Quatrain Verse in English & Swedish. Dagsverser. On the Mundane & the Arcane.
Polluting & depleting
we’re fouling our own nest!
A planet overheating
but hey, we’re on a quest!
Whether by plain obliviousness
narcissistic dereliction
or shackled by lasciviousness
must end with species eviction
Yeah but, won’t our mindlessness be excused
as we’re by snappy ‘yeah but’ quips bemused?
+)
-‘yeah but’ quip = such as: “Oceans rising? Yeah but, won’t we all get waterfront property then!”
Joyce’s doctor advised her to stay off dairy. She stayed off cheese and milk but as she loves butter she expeditiously declared butter a ‘non-dairy’ product:
Her bright new world discounts science
as too stodgy a reliance
With single-mindedness utter
Joyce declares it non-dairy
and goes on indulging butter
Handy to let facts vary
Thanks, Non-Dairy Cow
all much butter now!
Here’s a gripping tale non-dripping
of hermetically sealed
tight container of cream whipping
with the longest lasting yield
A packaged whipping cream
truly ‘shelf stable’
long the hostess’ dream
for the smart table!
But won’t stabilize a wobbly shelf
Repeatedly tried and failed myself
+)
-‘shelf stable’ = (marketing lingo) the cream stays fresh for a few months in an unopened container outside the refrigerator – while the package is useless for stabilizing a wobbly shelf
This verse suggested itself in the face of rising anti-reason & anti-science sentiment
Feel science is deniable
or of it plain unaware?
It still remains unpliable
so watch out, best be aware:
Each action & appliance
demands we’re compliant
with exact laws of science
of physics reliant
But if your attention rivets
on to being entertained
around science life still pivots
even if you’re unrestrained
The implacable law of gravity
knows neither virtue or depravity
Sleep’s traces much remain
as she rubs her eyes
Awake, alive again
stretch, time to arise!
Out from rumbled sheets crinkly
vision blurred, tussled hair
Ears red, cheeks & nose wrinkly
her voice muffled, face bare
From ‘looks in bed’ to beauty table
embracing cosmetology
From what’s natural on to fable
hardly ‘in depth’ psychology:
Largely by convention hustled
leads us worshiping in line
by glitzy marketing muscled
to mere Skin Deep Beauty’s Shrine
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?!
Watching from box suite
Humanity’s last game:
Our utter defeat
steeped in eternal shame
Watching how the Sixth Mass Extinction
wreaks disaster without distinction
Whether granted one more decade
or just one more faint heartbeat
as long as our demise is stayed
we’ll hide in costly box seat
Til fade our horrid shrieking jeers
drowned in dying oceans of tears
While us humans run around & gush
the tide rises, sets absent all rush:
Twice daily reversing
when forward surging
flows without rehearsing
by moon’s might urging
Waves rolling back & forth
never known ailing
not in sorrow or mirth
ever found wailing
Forward, retreated
To shore replete
to sea depleted:
Cycle complete
Is our human ambivalence unfeigned
perhaps as well celestially aligned?
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