Tom Toles - Washington Post
Alike as two peas in a pod:
climate change and the pandemic.
Mother Earth has sent us a memo:
we have made her ill
and infected ourselves as well.
They say we are the virus;
the corona is the vaccine.
As we are distracted by
our fight for survival,
in the background,
protections and safeguards
are being stripped away
by the corrupt. Their agenda seems to be
the complete destruction
of everything good
about North American life.
If this qwere a reality show
instead of reality, one might suspect
a Russian plot:
to assist the election of someone
who'd screw everything up.
Are they grinning in St. Petersburg?
What comes next?
Economic collapse? Gunfire in the streets?
Mayhem?
Once the virus is over,
Mother Earth will still be ill,
choices will still need to be made,
choices that should have
been made decades ago.
Will those who are still here
have gotten the message?
Will we move forward into
a more sustainable world?
This crisis has shown us
how swiftly Mother Earth recovers,
if given the slightest help.
Summer lies ahead: wildfires.
People too ill to fight them.
More wildlife dying
along with a gasping, strangled population
of suffering humans.
How quickly we find we are as helpless
as the people of the Middle Ages
when a plague comes to town.
Only there are now
so many of us.
Not enough masks.
Not enough respirators.
Not enough test kits.
"I'm keeping mine.
No help for you."
Exhausted health care workers
who make decisions
they should never have to make,
and wear their heartbreak home each night.
We hang suspended, like a tightrope walker
over Niagara Falls, each step fraught
with danger, asking the question:
will there still be a rope
under our next footfall?
Stay tuned.
for Brendan at earthweal: Climate Change and the Pandemic
That last stanza knocked me out! And the meandering way to it back and forth across the river from climate news to sick and tired workers. You say: "If this qwere a reality show
ReplyDeleteinstead of reality, one might suspect
a Russian plot:
to assist the election of someone
who'd screw everything up.'" Perhaps we should shut down all of the WWW, and work locally to heal globally. Let's take the uncontrollable--helpful as it has been--out of the equation.
It feels like emptying the ocean with a teaspoon. Herculean.
ReplyDeleteWill there be a rope under our next footfall... brilliant writing. And even broadly as we step out of this, the economy would be in tatters.. and there's a long way to go yet. Poetry is the only thing that makes sense in these times.
ReplyDeleteThey say we are the virus;
ReplyDeletethe corona is the vaccine.
This is certainly something to think about!
I agree, Sherry, ‘Mother Earth has sent us a memo…We are the virus; the corona is the vaccine’. While the corrupt in North America are destroying everything good, I have seen some good coming out of the pandemic over here in the UK: the applause for the NHS, support for a poorly prime minister, and people pulling together and helping each other. I desperately hope that the message has been received load and clear, for the sake of our children and grandchildren. Indeed, this crisis has shown us hope in clearer skies and waters – Mother Earth has spelt it out for us. The final simile is a powerful one!
ReplyDelete"They say we are the virus; / the corona is the vaccine." - Just enough touch of the deadly virus of humanity to make us sick of ourselves ... & Hopefully enough, though there will be plenty more & worse in the unchanging uptick of a heating earth. Last stanza really gripped me too. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteWow. This is powerful. You've expressed what I wish I could have written. Thank you!
ReplyDelete