Tag Archives: death

Day 15 —  unread books + coral 

The Festival of Grief hasn’t really hit this year which I’m certainly not sad to miss. Slowly coming to peace? Perhaps. The Poetic Factoid riffs off of traditional marriage gifts for 35 years together (apart).

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books unread

of all the endless wonderful things
i never experienced with you
sports  school  starring in a play

reading to you   sharing books
is of course the one i miss most

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Day 15 Factoid – coral 

35 years

successful marriages
would be celebrating
with gifts of coral

however as always 
my gifts are merely : memory
dreams of  : longing for

wonder:loss:remorse
& : words i regularly reread
reminding me : a balm

funeral fragments 

death fractures // cracking bones // ligaments whiplash // the jostle // hustle // crave chocolate block comfort // crave compassion \\ tiny church overflowing \\ weeping so wrenchingly ugly — it has become beautiful \\ anger like an endless need to urinate without any chance for relief \\ cramp \\ bladder cramp \\ soul cramp \\ heart damp \\ where’s the respite \\ the redemption \\ soul long left // muddy earth // despite skyblue sunshine // knees crack // smack whack // the big hole // the endless whole \\ overheated hall \\ tilted \\ stilted \\ asked 10 times about the kids i don’t have \\ twice by the same guy // somehow // a long table of laughter & one outside // symbolic somehow // conversation consists of countless carnivores delighting in meat filled memory meals consumed over many years // delicious gristle // machiavellian dancers pirouette over appetite // emptiness // cosmic cravings 

goblins \\ on the drive homewards \\ darkness tunnels // only the cat’s eyes cross the road

Day 29 — 6% deflection + water bombing

Today’s poem is a mixture of quotation, paraphrase, & commentary on something one inactivist denier actually said. Presumably, with a straight face. A straight cold callous inhuman face.

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wet feet

should the West Antarctic Ice Sheet actually do 
what the scientists threaten — & slip off into the sea  
— is it really be the end-of-the-world calamity they contend

even if the sea rose 6 metres — it would only reclaim 
about 42,000 square kilometres of coastline
where roughly about 400 million people currently live

that sounds quite a lot of people — but hardly 
all humanity — less than 6% of world population
which is to say — 94% of us need not fear — inundation 

after all — it’s simply an equivalent number of people 
to the entire population of the US & UK — combined
a mere drop in the ocean — you might wryly remark

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Day 30 — TIL i learnt we’re bombing the ocean

hot water

year after year 
we’re setting 
ocean heat records 

last year alone
they absorbed 
eight Hiroshima 

atomic bombs 
detonating 
every second 

of every day

— nearly seven
hundred
thousand
every day

— five million
a week

— a Quarter.
Of a. Billion.
Bomb’s. Worth.
Every. Year.

* 480 a minute / 28 800 an hour / 691 200 a day / 4 838 400 a week / 251 596 800 a year

Day 25 — declaration & current live conflicts

How many Anzac Day poems can I write during NaPoWriMo? The theme of “climate change” overlayed on “Anzac Day” is challenging. I like the poem. It’s a first draft. My brain is pretty much fudge. 

And the Poetic Factoid poem that was gonna be wow-kapow! short & simple … has ballooned out of control & may now be the beginning of a suite of 28 poems. Though not tonight. 

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declaration

By continuing to megalomaniacally pursue 
corporate profit over planetary health 
fossil fuel companies have declared 
(& are continuing to declare)                    ! War !
with every new extreme extractive 
project they announce using
ever riskier technologies

They are declaring  ! War ! on the arctic 
on the Amazon, on Antartica too before long 
! War ! on far off out-of-the-way places
on our own backyards

! War ! on the oceans (in countless ways)
on freshwater supplies everywhere
rivers, groundwater, aquifers 
on our drinking water
on the atmosphere

! War ! 
on nature
on trees, forests, wetlands
on every living creature

on us

they have declared  !! WAR !! 

only we — refuse to admit — they have 

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Day 25 — TIL about the 28 LIVE conflicts in the world right now
(20 odd more than I presumed)

too many conflicts 

1. The Argument 
as we solemnly remember our participation 
in wars dating back 114 years plus
it’s probably productive to pause a moment
& realise there are currently 
28 live conflicts around the world
                                                         right now

some you will have heard of 
israel’s annexing of palestine perhaps
russia’s invasion of ukraine
syria, afghanistan, myanmar, iraq
et cetera et cetera et cetera 

my initial concept for this poem
was to write haiku length
potted histories of 5 or 6 
current conflicts in the world — this before
realising there were so so many

i mean i thought i was relatively 
up to date with what’s going on. 
i wasn’t. i would’ve score half. on a test.
maybe. but this poem is already too long
so instead all i’m going to do
is list all 28 conflicts. as they appear.
on the global conflict tracker website
& request you to take the time
to read each one. perhaps even
visit the site to learn more.  

(& keep your eyes out, for my
potted history suite, forthcoming)

2.
i. Americas
Criminal Violence in Mexico
Instability in the Northern Triangle
Instability in Haiti
Venezuela Crisis

ii. Asia
Instability in Afghanistan
Territorial Disputes in the South China Sea
North Korea Crisis
Instability in Pakistan
Conflict Between India and Pakistan
Confrontation Over Taiwan
Civil War in Myanmar

iii. Europe and Eurasia
War in Ukraine
Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

iv. Middle East and North Africa
Conflict in Syria
Instability in Iraq
Instability in Lebanon
Conflict Between Turkey and Armed Kurdish Groups
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Civil Conflict in Libya
War in Yemen
Civil War in Sudan
Violent Extremism in the Sahel
Confrontation With Iran

v. Sub-Saharan Africa
Conflict in the Central African Republic
Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Instability in South Sudan
Conflict With Al-Shabaab in Somalia
Conflict in Ethiopia

Day 24 — a scientist speaks + gargoyles respond

Irony aplenty in today’s topic as the poems take a decided shift (I think they’re going to anyway) away from what’s been before. You’ll understand why at the end of this poem …

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Runaway Gargoyle

There is : general scientific agreement : that the most : likely manner : in which mankind : is influencing the global climate : is through carbon dioxide release : from the burning of fossil fuels : there are : some : potentially catastrophic events : that must be considered : rainfall might get heavier : in some regions : other places might turn to desert : some countries : would have their : agricultural output : reduced : or destroyed : man has a window : before the need : for hard decisions : regarding changes : in energy strategies : become critical : once the effects are measurable : they might not be : reversible

so spake : highly respected : senior scientist : James F. Black : waaay back in the 70’s : (words his : formatting mine)

the twist in the tail : the kick in the pants : the punch in the gut : the knife in the heart : the stab in the back : the sell the whole damn world down the river just for greed’s & profits’ sake :

is that Black : was a lead scientist : for fossil fuel giant Exxon : but rather than : heeding its own scientists’ warnings : it : & every petrochemical company since : has waged the most aggressive : PR deny & deflect campaign : snow job : contesting the scientific evidence : using all their : (not inconsiderable) : wealth & power : to lobby : purchase politicians : stymy global protocols : & to block : absolutely anything : & everything : even to the point : of purchasing : green competitors & technologies : only to shut them down : repressing : every : single : thing : (i repeat trying not to get hysterical) : aimed at curbing : their carbon polluting : cash cow : which is slowly : (& more & more so : swiftly) : killing : our : only : home

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Day 24 — TIL about the original gargoyles

irony overload

knowing : what i know now : that fact that : exxonmobile’s original company : vacuum oil : used a gargoyle : as its logo : portrays : next : level : irony

given people : once believed : gargoyles protect : the buildings : they guard  — not pillage them : that they could : ward off evil spirits — not rape the planet & poison the air

some christian legends : state : gargoyles are : monsters : that attack people

& aside from keeping water : off of buildings : on churches : they supposedly : remind sinners : of the terror of evil : gargoyles : were meant to : shake you : quake you : make you : fear : hell & the devil

all of which : seem eminently reasonable : emotions to feel : about the richest : most immoral : entities : the world : has ever known

Day 22 — calefaction + comfort zones

Too often, my first drafts while researching topics are a bit heavy-handed, a bit dry. This one I like because it’s more ethereal. More elegant. I probably shouldn’t post it in its entirety. But I must: I like it. And the Poetic Factoid is just fun.

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The Horse-Powered Apocalypse 

She doesn’t rustle branches.
Hair doesn’t ruffle.
She doesn’t arch up like a wave.
Earth doesn’t tremble.

She is subtle, predatory.
Something almost unholy.
She sneaks, thief-like
but ends by committing assault.

She is vital, active, brutal.
Kills more every year than guns.
Yet we rarely consider her.
We scoff at and scorn her.

She is extreme. She is coming
Correction.       She.   Is.   Here.

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Day 22 — TIL about comfort zones

rift valley thermostat

as a general rule
our genes love heat
preferring desert 
island paradises
to ice-covered 
coldilocks zones

the majority of times 
when we can choose 
how our air is conditioned 
preferred temperature 
is a low humidity 22°c

a combination 
that closely resembles
humanity’s east 
african birthplace 
where we first walked 
hundreds of thousands 
of years ago

Day 17 — fallow + souls

The Climate Change book I finished today concludes with several chapters on fertility — both the earth’s & the author’s. In so doing she mentions a beautiful word I have long loved & long wanted to use in a poem. That word is fallow. The poem isn’t quite there, though the verse I’m gonna share, is close. It also prompted a parallel poem instead of a Poetic Factoid.

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fallow

by growing single crops super-intensively
the brutal industrial-agricultural industry
has abandoned an ancient methodology
for keeping the earth fertile — they forget fallow

so desperate are they for continuous every increasing
crop yields they dump on (usually chemical) fertiliser, irrigate heavily 
& dump more chemicals on to kill the weeds, insects & other pests 
that thrive on monoculture

more traditional agricultural societies 
use natural methods to maintain soil fertility 
including allowing fields to lie fallow 
rest, regenerate and re-submit energy into the soil
often by planting nitrogen-fixing legumes 
like beans into a variety of crops grown side by side. 

but even if the moderns can’t do this
they can allow fields to rest fallow
let the dirt grow dormant, 
go quiet, move more slow
rest recuperate recharge

fallow also works in humans

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Day 17 A special +1 poem

A love poem with a difference. 100 years.

fallowsoul

Souls, like farm fields,
need to lie fallow for a time
before returning richer than before
so rest now in that far off fallow gold sea
— & may we meet again in the years that follow

Day 16 — missing fish + a trilogy of fish fun facts

There’s lots of research concerning the devastation caused by BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon 3 month long oil leak around the Gulf of Mexico. This poem, explores one of the least reported/appreciated consequences. One which didn’t make the news cycle because the effects weren’t felt for three, four, five years — but the experts, the fishermen of the gulf knew what was happening. [3 longish verses aren’t being published.]

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missing fish

missing fish don’t make 
the news ; there’s no dramatic footage

no bodies wash onto beaches
just thousands of bubbles of nothing

following BP’s deepwater disaster
fish embryos didn’t grow

…

missing fish don’t make 
the news … but they should

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Day 16 – TIL a lot of fish related fun facts. (Ironically, at this point last year I wrote my flamingo triptych which was one of the highlight poems of last season. Today I find myself with lots & lots of fish facts, so I decided to replicate the idea.)

fish triptych

i. 
something odd (& gross) is happening 
in the waters of Britain
— a third of all male fish are changing 
sex due to human sewage pollution

ii. 
Atlantic hagfish produce enough slime 
in a minute to fill a bucket — no, no
i don’t care about the size of the bucket
that’s all the information i need, cheers

iii.
fish “speak” using a variety 
of low-pitched sounds 

they grunt : moan : & boom ; hiss : 
& whistle ; croak : creak : shriek : & wail

they rattle bones : gnash teeth
noisemake by jiggling muscles : 

against : their swim bladder
— ahhh : kindred spirits : who knew?

Day 15 —  FOGhead + radar 

The Festival of Grief feels somewhat lessened this time around. Perhaps partly because I. of the publication of my poetry books last year. And II. Because only one date falls into Na/GloPoWriMo timeframe. And just for today I’m ignoring the Poetic Factoid component to write a second free form poetical sketch.

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FOGhead

My foggy head has ached all morning
& I cannot understand why
Grateful outside is a slow still day
The only anniversary this year
As Easter Sunday was the last 
Mad day of a manic March

I sit underneath the sunshine
& hear the multiplicity of birds 
Who share my trees carry on
Countless continuous conversations
Always moving through air urgent
To be some where they are not

Whereas it is my everlasting wish
To be wherever you are when you went

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Day 15 – TI Ignored the Poetic Factoid assignment 

interdimensional radar

as much as i want 
to take pain relief
to less the graine

i also don’t in case
it’s caused by you 
trying to get through

Day 09 – oligarchs + dragons

Today’s main poem has exploded. I’ve been collecting billionaire facts & memes for several years & today I began the exciting but overwhelming task of trying to poetify some of them. There are currently about 7 sections (the borders are amorphous) some are datapoems, others more like actual poems, one is quite lyrical. They’ve been fun to play with (& I don’t think I’m finished yet). They make a nice sequence (even if that too is ever-changing.)

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idols? false

II
how much is a billion?

postulation 2.1 — basically the same

if you believe billionaires 
are just, like, slightly richer 
millionaires !! think again

a million seconds 
is 11.5 days

a billion seconds 
is thirty one years !! six months !!!
plus a handful of loose days !
(the maths eventually got too complicated for me)

postulation 2.2 — conclusion

billionaires ! are ! immoral

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Day 09 – TIL about the truth concerning dragons

the truth concerning dragons

In the Old English saga the dragon 
was once a wealthy king 
jealously hoarding  & brooding 
until selfishness & avarice
turned him into a monster
— till Beowulf kills him

Smaug amassed vast loot in his Lonely 
Mountain lair plundering Middlearth 
over millennia stealing from hapless mortals
hoarding gold  Elvish armour  dwarven gems
— till Bard kills him

who says fiction doesn’t teach us how to deal with real-world issues?