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
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
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
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
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
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 – TILa 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
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
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?
Climate Change is going to affect different parts of the world slightly differently (mostly the same broad brush strokes, but the detail will vary from place to place). For several years I’ve been collecting examples of things that will in all probability be affected right here in Oz (itself a wildly diverse ecosystem/area) under the working titles of — ecosystems : species : food and farming : water : coastal erosion : health : damage to homes & property : coral bleaching : miscellaneous.
The poem is a poetic attempt at breaking down all the fun things we’ve got to look forward to. I’m sharing just the Species section of the poem. (Not doubt this first draft will have new consequences added to it, as I research further. It’s been ever growing for the past 4 years, don’t see it changing now.)
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So many consequences …
ii. species
One in six : faces ex:tinc:tion risk
To survive plants : animals : & birds alike must : move : adapt or : die
But climate change : is happening : so fast it’s often im:possible : for species to adapt : swiftly enough : to evolve : with their ever-changing : environments : with changing seasons : with timings in the rest of the web : altered : delayed : enhanced : shunted : days, even weeks : out of whack
And even : if they could : move : swiftly enough the sheer : volume of human-driven : habitat destruction makes moving : moot ; kinda hard to move : when : there’s no place left
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Day 08 – TIL about the pachyderms outside the room
Bill’s Moving Tales
1. Supposedly the average person (Bill) moves residences 11.7 times in their lives 2. Allegedly it is the 3rd most stressful event in Bill’s life (behind death & divorce) 3. Apparently 55% of Bill’s moves happen in the summer 4. Purportedly Bill needs around 60 cardboard boxes to move all their stuff 4b. Reputedly 60 cardboard boxes is equivalent to around 6,500 pounds — or as part of the penchant for Americans using anything except the metric system to describe things — the size of a smallish-sized elephant
5. All I know is, when the truck with the shipping container filled to the brim with most of my books tried, it couldn’t make it up the gentle slope of Gully Hill & had to go the long way round (not enough torque or cylinder size or something — definitely *not* too. many. books).
Monday’s volume of poetry read was a recent purchase & one I’ve been saving for the end of the month: Brian Bilston’s Alexa, what is there to know about love? I was saving Bilston for the end because he’s so fun & playful & cheeky & clever in his word game poems — & I suspected/knew I’d need an energising pick me up (this month more than usual; or perhaps not, perhaps it always feels this way by the end. I suspect it does, we just choose to blank it out).
“Love in the Age of Google” is a poem made up of single lines from google’s predictive text. I’ve seen a couple of other attempts at this type of poem & thought today is a good day to test it out (for reasons which will hopefilly become clearer in Poem 2). Curation of results has taken place. I wish I made more time to make both poems shorter, tighter, but I don’t …
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Predicting Orpheus
1. DuckDuckGo (yes other search engines are available)
did orpheus save eurydice did orpheus look back did orpheus die did orpheus have children did orpheus see eurydice in the underworld
— think most of these are pretty easy to answer, though the children one pulls me up short
why did orpheus look back why did orpheus look back at eurydice why did orpheus decide to rescue his wife why did orpheus go to the underworld why did orpheus die
— hmmm, feel like these are questions i should’ve asked at the start of the month. life mightabeen easier.
why was orpheus why was orpheus killed why was orpheus adored in thrace why was ephesus abandoned why was ephesus an important city why was morpheus recast
— sometimes the algorithm breaks down, yes, even before i do
2. Google
i. did orpheus what instrument did orpheus play …..oh good, an easy one. the lute. ah, harp. the lyre, the lyre… what did orpheus do …..wandered round the place singing. after that, things get ugly how did orpheus get into the underworld …..excellent question, one which took me considerable …..time in my books & online to answer how did orpheus die …..not pleasantly. will that suffice?
ii. why did orpheus why did orpheus go to the underworld …..even not knowing the tale, surely this is work-outable why did orpheus look back …..which is, of course, the crux why did eurydice run away from orpheus …..run away? really? that’s the verb you’ve chosen. why did orpheus look back at eurydice …..it really all comes back to this, doesn’t it? why did the maenads kill orpheus …..is “it’s complicated” a good enough reply?
iii. outtakes & bloopers (in the interest of balance, google had its share of quirky predictions too)
~why did roman kill orpheus wife ~why did hades give orpheus a condition ~why did the gods gave condition to orpheus ~why did thanatos come out of orpheus ~why did morpheus kill orpheus
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Day 26 — TACD (Today Another Company Died)
The Online Jungle — worse than the real Amazon
i. Audiobookstand, Avalon Books, Bookpages, BookSurge, Telebook, TobyPress, & Waldenbooks
all book-related businesses Amazon has bought & closed (sometimes parts are “merged”)
sadly today Book Depository has been added to that list
a UK online book store once known for its wild range affordability, & free worldwide D
launched in 2004 Amazon “acquired” the company in 2011 (it was several years before i realised my protest purchasing was still lining bald Jeff’s pockets)
but don’t feel too bad (Amazon don’t)
they still own: Audible, Abebooks, GoodReads, ComiXology
none of which they developed themselves. all bought out to prop up/become part of the Bezos behemoth
& this isn’t all of them
there’s MGM, Twitch, IMDb, Kiva, WholeFoods & countless others across disciplines i’ve not even listed at least 115, possibly more
ii. these “killer acquisitions” aren’t limited to the cut throat world of books
fossil fuel companies do it buy green startups shut them down because they don’t want the competition
pharmaceutical companies buy rivals to eliminate competing therapies under development so theirs is the only alternative
it’s something we should all care about it’s why our antitrust laws need to be given real teeth
gareth roi poet boi 