I Feel Bad About the Trees

Redwoods are losing their crowns to the drought.
No more green bower. What can crows crow about?

Sycamores look sick. Olive bark's darker complexion -
Is burnt to a crisp with no watery protection.

Brown pines pine away,
Carpet of needles deeper than hay.

I think they’re depressed. Who wouldn’t be,
When losing one’s beauty and crowning glory?

Chemo cuts for conifers. It looks simply hell-ish.
They need their needles, they’re not needless. They tell us:

Water us, drench us, nourish our tap-root.
We hold up our arms, to hear hummers hum and owls hoot.





If we’re supposed to be guardians of the earth,
If that’s been part of our job since our birth,

The way we’re doing it is certainly crappy.
Climate change makes no one happy.

Time and energy go to make products and packages
Bits of the natural world for sale: Organic this-es and thats-es,

Broccolini splays in plastic trays,
Sandwich wraps under wraps - Saran Wrap, that stays,

Oil’s burned to make plastics, then to transport the goods,
Then, there’s cooking the foods in our own neighborhoods

We heat ‘em and eat ‘em, all virtually dead
We’re heating the planet. We’re boiling our bed

Fire storms are the norm. Golden State, Oregon, Washington
All at the effect of major drought dragging on.

No doubt, we could do without the extraneous extras.
Living in Simplicity might reduce what hexes us


Who was it said: Live simply so others may simply live?
To forestall global disaster WTF would we give?


In the bustle of our busy day, dare we say, “Nay!?
I’ll bring my own cloth bags, make my meals each day

From scratch, all natch?” How long before we succumb
To the siren’s song luring us with lies so dumb

About luminous luxurious leisure when we buy the ease,
The convenience of pop-up food? Such a tease.

How long before we splinter ourselves along seas sharp shoals,
Shriveled on sandy shores, withered our souls?

Buy these. Save time. Do it all with disposables.
We’re made dumber, not smarter, by our thumbs opposable,

While our less digitized brethren who war not, want not,
Live free ’til we encroach on their lairs with our self-righteous rot.

Feel the fire raging at your feet?
Sub-human? Mad-Womb-less-men gestating heat?

Sub-Saharan desertification
Spreading like wild-fire to every nation.

Where a typical modern home has burned,
The ground is so toxic, hazmat suits are earned

No, required to stir the dirt,
So you don’t get hurt.

Building anew is delayed in that spot
Economy’s declining and going to pot

Our chemical footprint is larger than those
Of Jack’s beanstalk Giant including his toes

Our carbon footprint so huge that it eats
The stratosphere, creating more heat.

Our wireless contraptions’ pollution is grandiose,
Sending invisible “fuck you’s”, I suppose





To the children’s children’s children's children's children's children's children.





Our governing bodies are governed by greed.
Greed binds us and blinds us to what babies need.

Humans and wildlife all live in one boat,
Yet humans are who have the world by the throat.


How do we let go? How do we SEE
That what happens to “them” is what happens to ME?


May cooler heads prevail. May each do her part.
May we question each action with one beating heart.

The planet is precious; just one like it so far.
Like dinosaurs, we’re drowning, but in our own gooey tar.

May the trees prevail and stand the test.
Under their GREEN shade, I’d like to rest.

I feel bad about the trees.
Help me pray for them, please?