Tag Archives: protest

Day 14 — one kinda torch + anudder torch

I’m reading books about reading this month (OMG so meta, so fun) & an element repeatedly brought up is not wanting to turn the light out on a book that’s thrilling you & sneak reading under covers. It affects readers across the spectrum. So I thought I’d attempt a poem exploring my experience of it — in a short lined conversational style similar to the YA verse novel I’m reading (Inside Out & Back Again by Vietnamese American poet Thanhha Lai). 

This then very quickly lead to an interesting Factoid about the other kind of torch you probably think of when you think torches & stories of the 76 Montreal Games Olympic flame going out & needing to be relit with a cigarette lighter of all things (haha). When I sought verification of this story from other sources, I came across a home grown torch story I’d never heard of. One that was even better.

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light’s (sorta) out

being an owlish teenager 
in a cock-a-doodle-do household
meant getting creative
to ensure the reading got done

i secretly saved pocket 
money for several weeks 
pretending i’d always spent 
slightly more than i had

so on one after-school shopping
spree i was able to procure
a small hand held torch
without mum observing 

unfortunately my maths
illiterate mind hadn’t 
factored batteries 
into the equation

but a fortnight or so
later i had the power
to continue the story
even after the official edict

light’s out always came too soon
however now i could resume 
adventures after a discreet
interval  either under covers or above

soon realised batteries don’t last 
long when used often  & so 
a rechargeable system was 
acquired in similar fashion

& sure — there were 
occasional altercations
between parent & progeny
shouting matches & such

about sleep  v  school yet  
the system was extremely 
efficient   & the illicit joy 
it delivered   immeasurable 

~

there are many fine things
to being an adult (& several 
that totally suck) — but leaving
lights on as long as i like.  wow.

LEDs will last forever   & so 
i drift asleep  book in hand, 
finger in page, glasses still on
dream for as long as needed

then   wake up   & resume 
from wherever i’d wafted off 
my teenage self & my flabbier
celled successor  both agree 

— this is living

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Day 14 Factoid – torches of all kinds

true Olympic spirit

in 56 : a future vet
presented a fake torch
— made of a chair leg 
painted silver : still wet 
a plum pudding can : 
& a pair of : burning 
jocks : soaked in kero —
to the mayor of Sydney
who proceeded : to speechify
while the protesting
prankster : slipped 
silkily : into the crowd
& away
             the following day
just before : taking an exam
his peers rose to their : feet 
applauding : their approval

the results of that test
are : less triumphant

Day 30 — carbon footprints + footprints in clay

Always relieved when this month is over (I am pretty tired, pun intended, see below. It’s been hectic with extra commitments, several deadlines, & added responsibilities). That said, I’ve got a good swag of poems from the past 30 days (not all of them uploaded here). & I’m pleased with many of them. I really want to see if I can assemble a chapbook’s worth (at least) as writing about this topic feels like the most important thing to be talking about. I still have many poems titled, semi drafted, half-researched, a line or two of, the basic idea for, etc … & will continue to work on developing them & refining the ones I’ve got. 

Too often, I feel I’ve been bogged down in doom & gloom about the issue (which is partly what the inactivists want) so reading more optimistic books this year has been helpful.

This final one has been in my head a while (I always try & leave one I’ve thought about a lot till last so it’s not as exhausting) … this one was dictated as I drove to work this morning & I kinda like how it is in this rough state though it might get tweaked in future versions.

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prints & treads 

okay petrochemical fossil fuel industry : i’m happy to talk about my : personal carbon footprint. i’m happy to : recycle : eat no meat : drive less : take less/no overseas flights : plant more trees : & so on : but if you seriously think : the world is gonna be changed : by a few : well-meaning : people advocating : personal responsibility : while you roar round : the world : continuing to extract in ever desperate ventures : in ever destructive ways : & continue : operating : scot-free : continue : the same thing you’ve been doing : for the past hundred years : then you are deluded

yes : i’ll keep working on my personal footprint : because i know it’s the right thing : for me to do : (for me : others can make up their own minds) : but i’m gonna : keep talking to them about it : keep engaging : keep asking questions : but likewise i’m gonna nag away at : my politicians more : email policy makers : lobby shareholders : to divest : attend protests : & whatever else : feels necessary

but mostly : attacking you : you goddamm greedy heartless sons of bitches : to keep : calling you out : about hypocritically : trying to foist : guilt : & responsibility : back on us : the consumers of your pollution : when you cynically : shut down better : cheaper : cleaner alternatives : so you can : continue your : obscene exploitation : & challenging you : about your tread marks : at the cavalcade of tread marks : you cause : because otherwise : the thousands & thousands & thousands & thousands of treads : tracks : marks : & maulings : caused by : the tyres : powering your tiring old : business model : will obliterate : my tiny footprints : in a heart beat

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Day 30 — TIL i learnt about the first early human tracks discovered in North Africa

85 footprints

100,000 years ago
Late Pleistocene
last Ice Age

rounded heels
short toe marks
arched indentations

five adults & children 
walked a rocky shoreline 
Homo sapiens : modern humans

gathering food from the sea?
just passing through? 
fleeing trouble?

unlike me — their 
sea level rise still 
generations away