A River Standing Still (January 20, 2020)

Oppression is

A river dammed

Who's water

Seek freedom.

Too long

We have accepted

America's Apartheid

As the norm.

Based on

Economic religious

And political dogma

Encouraging intolerance

And ignorance.

On August 28, 1963

One of the last century's

Greatest speech for freedom

Struck a blow

Against this state.

As Rev Martin Luther King Jr

Delivered "I Have A Dream" speech

Before the Lincoln Memorial

During the "March on Washington

For Jobs and Freedom."

All people benefit

And not

Just a select few.

Want to say

Rev King's words

Destroyed this

Repression.

Unleashing 

A tsunami of liberties

Displacing this brackish waters

That America drowns in.

Sadly

Breaches been repaired

Building ever higher.

Entrapping

Even greater population

Seeking the "promised land"

Rev King spoke of.

Finding a blighted

Drought stricken land

Instead.

As Americans

Celebrate Martin Luther King Day

On January 20, 2020.

Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: Written for Earthweal’s weekly prompt: Water.

Ghost Of 3 Mile Island (January 19, 2020)

On Sunday

January 12, 2020

As I awoke

An email account explodes.

Updates flash

Fast and furious

An unspecified nuclear incident

At Pickering Nuclear Generating Station.

As the crow flies

Distance of 20 km

From my apartment

To the reactors.

First thought

WTF....

Mental cobwebs

Slowly clear away

Leaving me

Stunned and anxious.

Two hours later

From first

To last update.

Whatever emergency

Had happened

It was too late

For panicking.

Grimly

Searching news sites

For clues.

Is this Canada's version

Of 3 Mile Island

In the 40+ year old

CANDU reactors?

This March

Marks 41 years

Partial core meltdown 

Of the American nuclear site.

(CANDU reactors

Use heavy water [D2O]

And unenriched uranium.

(All US commercial models

Use enriched uranium

And light water {H2O}.)

Unlike 3 Mile Island

Pickering was human error

Transmitting internal message

Externally province-wide

During one of two

Daily tests.

Ontario seeks

Maximized profits

From aging reactors

At lifecycle's end.

What point

Is public safety worth

A few billion dollars

To the health concerns

For its citizens.

As Ontario's Solicitor General 

Promises a full investigation

Into Pickering.

Never mind

Premier Ford's government

Has scrapped multiple contracts

Totalling almost $300 million (Cdn)

For wind-power generated electricity

Since June 2018.

As Ontario has

No concrete future plans

Beyond those drawn

On the back of a napkin.

Requiring years

Of research and approvals

Before the political photo op

For the groundbreaking

To whatever replaces

Pickering's reactors.

Therisa © 2020   

Author’s note: Some background information links:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-false-alert-pickering-nuclear-plant-1.5424242

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pickering-nuclear-decommissioning-1.5426207

https://www.thebalance.com/candu-nuclear-reactor-is-moderated-with-heavy-water-1182652

https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/01/13/investigation-into-pickering-nuclear-alert-will-be-made-public.html

Blocked & Poisoned (January 19, 2020)

H-2-O

Most precious gift:

Water.

Without which

No life can exist

On this planet.

Tainting it

Through our averse

And greedy ways

Culling countless species

With wanton waste.

Killing powerful rivers

Like the Colorado

Into muddy streams.

Failing

To reach oceans

With dams

And other needs.

As the environment

Collapses

Upon itself.

Therisa © 2020 

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.

A Poetic Letter To Australia (January 3, 2020)

Dear Australia;

In your time of need

You're not alone

Battling these wildfires

On your eastern coast.

Over the years

Australia has

Generously helped

Battled forest fires

In Canada.

Only wish

It was possible

To ship Lake Ontario's

Excess water.

As this freshwater

Will be released

Into the Atlantic Ocean

From the St Lawrence Seaway.

Else

Send RCN resources

If asked

Evacuating trapped citizens.

But

I don't expect

PM Morrison will do so

Given his government

Handling of this crisis.

May the Goddess'

Healing mercy

Rest on those

Facing this Herculean task

Before your nation.

As Morrison displays

His inability to lead

In a time of national crisis

With his lack of comprehension

To Australia's specific needs

And global warming.

One Australian death

Is one

Too many.

From a sincere

And thankful

Canadian.

Therisa © 2020