Fyre, Fyre (January 10, 2020)

"How can we dance when our earth is turning?

How can we sleep when our beds are burning?"

Midnight Oil, Beds Are Burning (1987)

From the safety

Of my Toronto apartment

Half a world away.

Australia's holocaust unfold

Unimaginable ferocity

And scale.

Wiping out

Millions of years

Of evolution.

There's no reversing

Extinction

Once gone - is forever. 

From New Zealand's

South Island

(About 2 000 km away)

Angry orange skies

Dominate the horizon.

Toxic fires

Burn unabated

Spewing forth gases

Accelerating climate change.

Across Australia

Pregnant women march

Concern about their health

And the unborn child

They carry.

Morrison - like Nero

Are seen fiddling their lyre

Unable to do anything

But watch.

As Australians wonder

When this Dreamtime horror

Will ever end.

Therisa © 2020  

Author's note:

Before Paradise, California, or the Australian wildfires of 2019-20, there was Fort

McMurray, Alberta. 

On May 1, 2016, the wildfire started that would, within 2 days, forced the evacuation of this

northern Alberta community of nearly 88 000 people. Which, is the operational hub for

Alberta's tar sand extraction, via pit mining. Mercifully, only 2 deaths were indirectly

linked to the fire.

Until August 2, 2016, when the fire was finally extinguished, almost 560 000 hectares

(1.46 million acres) of land was burnt. Alberta's Ministry of Natural Resources forest

firefighters, were joined by the Canadian military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police,

and other provinces' forest firefighters. Unlike Australia, Canadian forest firefighters,

are professionals and not volunteers.

The final bill, for this fire and recovery, was Cdn$9.9 billion, paid out by insurance
companies and various levels of government. I remember the national telethon,
held during prime time, on a Friday, by all of Canada's major TV networks, English
and French. Raising funds, for those without coverage and other needs.

Truthfully, Canada, as a whole, has gotten off lucky, with deaths and damage done.
Considering that 90% of the population occupies 10% of the land, nearest to the US
border. Next time, we may face a similar situation, as our Commonwealth sister,
Australia, is right now.

For the Earthweal weekly challenge : FIRE.

World Leader Pretend (September 5, 2019)

Rock star

Working crowds

Inciting rabid chanting fans.

As if

Lyrics to hit songs

On Billboard’s Top 40

With a bullet.

Divisive lightning rod

Drawing destructive energy

With every word/gesture.

Opposition attacked

With inflammatory 

"Red menace."

Rule of law

Suggested guideline

Ignore if conflicting.

Cruel parody

Of unifying voice

Facing economic

And political unrest.

Planetary lungs

Blackened remains

As burning beds

Light the night sky.

While

Rivers run red.

Therisa © 2019

Author's note: When I started writing this poem, about 4 months ago, American President Donald Trump, was the focus for this. In the time since, Brazil, Great Britain, Hungary and Israel have come to occupy my attention for this dubious title. The poem's title is a reference to the song, World Leader Pretend on the 1988 release cd, Green, by R.E.M.

Begging Forgiveness (May 5, 2016)

Mother Earth

Please forgive us

For our raping

And pillaging

Of Your gifts

To us.

Knowing

We must face

Our punishment

For these crimes.

But

I ask You.

Please spare

Brother Wolf

Sister Caribou

And the other siblings

From this.

Whose

Only crime

Is their existence.

Therisa © 2016

Author's note: After an unusual mild and dry winter, for western Canada, the forest fire season has started earlier, this year. The most graphic and destructive one, is the fire that's ravaging Fort McMurray, Alberta, forcing the evacuation of 84 000+ people, from this oil exploration city. The material wealth can be replaced, by various financial means, but the wild life, like the wolf and the caribou, who are struggling, with the intrusive oil sand exploration, may never return. For extinction, is forever.


I has asked, Sherry Blue Sky, if she would do, a collaboration, with the above poem, but she said, "...it would dilute its beauty and its power....", by doing this. For which, I am flattered and truly humbled, by her words. Thank you, Sherry.