Eileen Floody photo
It is three a.m.
News on my tablet is grim.
Around us, old growth is being felled
left and right.
We try hard to save it.
We are losing the fight.
Two old beauties by the hospital
will die this week.
Bureaucracy thanks me for my concern,
but this is "necessary".
So are the trees,
but who's counting? (We are.)
The one-block wall of Old Ones, majestic,
across from the Bake Shop
is on the chopping block.
There is a clearcut at the heli-pad
and a moonscape on Gibson.
"Progress," they say. "Development."
Climate is losing the fight.
We had no rain
(in the rainforest) all winter.
Hot sun in February. In March.
Two wildfires already on the Island.
The chainsaws whirr,
thirsty for sap.
The forest weeps
and trembles.
The news from my bed
is all bad.
In the morning,
I will get up and put on the tv
for more bad news,
madness and greed and corruption
on every side,
in a world-wide climate crisis.
I think of the planet heating up,
(how will we breathe with the trees all gone?)
I think of species starving and dying,
of my great-grandkids who will
inherit this mess,
of a tsunami that will come and wipe
this place I love away.
To keep rising and smiling
and caring and trying is hard.
But it's all I've got.
For Izy's prompt at Real Toads: The News From My Bed - I woke up at three a.m., and this is what happened.
Yeah, I listen (and care) about all the political bull going on, world-wide, but I keep thinking to myself: The planet's melting! The planet's melting! Listen up, people! The planet's melting!
ReplyDeleteMe too, Ron.
ReplyDeleteIt is heart-breaking. Thanks for coming by, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteIt hurts, Sherry. I'm reminded of the Joanie Mitchell song, Big Yellow taxi,
ReplyDeletehttp://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=13
"They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum *
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em ".
..
Tablets and smart phones definitely make it harder to keep the whirling world news out of bed. This was a thoughtful write out. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt is happening down here as well. One hundred year old fig trees murdered for massive development in Sydney. I think the future lies in the hands of the young. They have to rise up and hit the streets like we did. If they don't it's kaputski for the planet. The waste we generate is also a major concern.The best kitchen I have ever seen was made from recycled material from the tip....cost $50
ReplyDeleteI shake my head at all the indoor shopping malls that are going belly-up. Such huge, ugly things with TONS of parking lots... where trees used to be and rolling countryside. It goes on and on as you say... I almost always vacation in out of the way places, where nature is celebrated, embraced.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about three a.m., Sherry? Do we all wake up at that time? Is someone out there prodding us awake? That’s one thing I don’t often do, though, take my tablet to bed with me. I’ve almost finished reading the amazing book Overstory, which is all about people trying to save trees. These lines make me shudder:
ReplyDelete‘The chainsaws whirr,
thirsty for sap.
The forest weeps
and trembles.’
The crushing truth!
ReplyDeleteIt's like wherever we look news is waiting to crash upon us with smartphones and tablets.. sigh ..
ReplyDeleteWith such bad news, it is better to stay in bed.
ReplyDeleteIt is all so sad, that I try to avoid the news from bed, or anywhere else.
ReplyDelete