Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Poetic Justice



When the last bird and human have breathed 
their last gasp,
when the turgid, oil-polluted waters 
grow still and stagnant,
when the last whale has beached, 
died in agony, and decayed,
and not one cricket chirps, not one worm burrows,
when the last fish flops limply at the edge of 
a lake filled with plastic,
when all the plankton in the boiling sea is gone,
when dead cars litter the landscape
and dead air lies like a haze on the horizon,
when nothing moves but an angry hot dry wind
in the few dead brittle ghost trees that still remain
when radioactivity is the only activity left,
then Earth will receive her poetic justice
and begin, slowly, to heal.
One year far in the future, one tiny green sprout
will burst through the earth's surface
and our Mother will slowly begin
to live again.

For Susan's prompt at Mid Week Motif: Justice or Poetic Justice

17 comments:

  1. A resounding "Wow!" This was fantastic but hope it doesn't take mankind that long to wake up and help heal the Earth.

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  2. Wonderful, Sherry. You have showed the resilience of "Mother Earth." So sad that it will have to wait THAT long into the future!

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  3. when radioactivity is the only activity left,
    then Earth will receive her poetic justice
    and begin, slowly, to heal.

    These lines struck me..! Such a beautiful poem Sherry :D You created magic through your verses!

    Lots of love
    xoxo

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  4. It seems so, it does seem so--when justice for the environment and those who live closest to it has become one political speech after another and one after another profit scheme. Oh, yes. And even that is poetic in your hand, Ms. Sherry. Earth doesn't need us to win.

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  5. You offer hope in the devastating scene you paint -what a moving poem.

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  6. Sherry,

    You paint the reality of what is moving closer to us all, as our only picture to see, if we continue down this crazy world of carelessness and disrespect for the environment around us.. Poetic justice indeed, with the willingness of Mother Nature, to trust this world with a second chance. A fantastic response to Poetic Justice Sherry.
    Hope you can perhaps have a more restful weekend,
    Eileen

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  7. You speak well and with wisdom for our Mother and home. One may only hope it is so...

    Elizabeth

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  8. How powerful this is; hopefully more powerful than the mindless who are taking us down this path.

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  9. Really love the depth of this poem and the dream of a healing Earth...mine's almost in the same vein ...yours is so very rich with touching imagery as always :)

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  10. The depth of what can happen here is so important to read.

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  11. the photo snag this perfectly... if I had the time, I was going this direction for the prompt... at least, more are aware of giving back to the earth

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  12. That little 'green sprout' gives hope. Hope the wait is not too long, Sherry!! Inspiring!!!
    Oh, I love the spirit in your writing. Awesome....

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  13. "when radioactivity is the only activity left," ~ this line struck me and ' one tiny green sprout
    will burst through the earth's surface' made me exhale - What a powerful poem, Sherry!!

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  14. yep. spent the day at the Natural History Museum in Central Park. Went through the Hayden Planetarium big bang video, and walked past the timeline, from 13.7 billion years ago, to when complex life first flourished, some 570 million years ago, walked past the towering dinosaurs... we are motes. ~

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  15. splendid piece i have to say Sherry. isn't that justice after all then? nature rebuilding itself after man's inhumane actions against it? love your poem too!!! thanks.

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  16. Indeed, Sherry, these are words and images that I have long thought about seeing how we destroy this beautiful earth. Casting it to fit the prompt was great idea!

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