(in climate change future)
All day all the glass
in all the buildings
cracked then shattered.
That night many
no longer breathed –
not enough air.
The dirt turned red,
hard as stone. Only the ants
marched across dry landscapes.
Even eagles faltered
in the hot sun, and fell
dead out of the sky.
Written for Magaly Guerrero's Protest and Outrage: Dark Poetry for the Cruellest Month.
This began as the following erasure poem from Michael Dransfield's 'Icarus', then I expanded it into something else (which nevertheless can't quite escape its origins).
All day
glass shattered
night breathed not
red stone marched
eagles faltered
in hot sun.
The image of eagles falling out of the sky is now imprinted inside my eyelids. Some things are just so terrible--children not breathing, bees dying, people filling the world with poison and not caring... just so terrible.
ReplyDeleteAwe inspiring, original and expanded verses. So clear the images of destruction painted in my mind XXX
ReplyDeleteSuch powerful and redolent images here, Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteThis must have been a difficult challenge for one as positive as you.
ReplyDeleteI am in fact often despairing about the state of the planet, both environmentally and politically. The challenge, sometimes, is to find ways to stay positive.
DeleteThis is just tragic, I saw those feathered eagle Icarus drop from the sky as I read,... The last man will leave the earth & all that was once beautiful & good to death & decay, mother nature nurtured, gave gifts to her children & then the most loathsome raped pillaged and made her barren through geed & lust. Fabulous Rosemary x
ReplyDeleteScary picture you paint, Rosemary. Yes climate change is one of the things to be outraged about.
ReplyDeleteThat imagery is stunning Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteThat image of shattering glass all night long is even more scary when you think of all the reasons it could happen...frighteningly vivid.
ReplyDeleteThose ants. Survivors.
ReplyDeleteClimate change can have dire consequences. Frighteningly true in coming!
ReplyDeleteHank
Sadly, Rosemary, your poem is being read, by the believers, why those, in power, sit on their fat asses, counting the profit that their polluting ways destroy their very manner of higher earnings.
ReplyDeleteYes, sadly, I'm sure you are right.
DeleteThis may well be happening the way we treat this planet Earth but humans see such signs only as ways to make more money assuming their own survival is somehow guaranteed! Horrific but it seems so real to me.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how you would even risk not believing given the consequences... and just imagine how easy a life with a smaller footprint is...
ReplyDeleteYou offer a chilling Dystopian scene, Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteGrave times; hope we see this never.
ReplyDeleteEagles dropping dead sounds sinister.
Environmental or man-made disaster?
It's a crime that those who could make more of a difference are slaves to fiscal demands, and not the demands of mother earth. Good read here.
ReplyDeleteThe smallest tend to survive ;)
ReplyDeleteIt feels like a glimpse of what the future might hold. It scares me as I often ponder life generations from now.
ReplyDeleteThe image of the eagles falling out of the sky is so vivid and potent!
ReplyDeletePoint made! Very well!
ReplyDeleteZQ
A difficult read on a rainy Sunday morning. Even Pandora found hope in the bottom of her box of sins.
ReplyDeleteThis shows how a poem can stir a consciousness. The eagles falling from the sky is so stark and powerful. I wish climate change deniers would read this poem.
ReplyDeleteWhen eagles fall, we know we are in trouble...
ReplyDeleteShattering in its simplicity. Terrifyingly real and honestly true.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
The eagles falling from the sky ....so powerful.
ReplyDeletePowerful images rendered with a clarity that stuns ... and gives your reader: pause. Fantastic writing!
ReplyDeleteI think it is too late.
ReplyDeleteI fear so too. However, we can't absolutely know that for certain, so as long as possible I think we must keep on doing whatever we can to try and prevent or postpone. (And after all – however else should we spend our time? It's as good a way as any, and better than many.)
DeleteIt seems an apt name for man flying spaceship earth . . . Brilliant.
ReplyDelete