Crispy Critters Help Us See

Crispy critters in Australia

Billion dead or hurt

Big numbers I cannot fathom

Scorched land cannot feed those left

Still alive but scarred and scared.

Humanity steps forward

But Naught can be done

Without acknowledging

We made this mess

Can we un-make it?

We're frogs in cool water

Industry's turned up the heat

So slowly we’ve not yet jumped

All are being cooked alive 

Too late to jump?

Too late to turn down the temp?

We've known.  Exxon has known 

Suppressed facts. Greedy bastards.

Dupont’s duplicitous

Monsanto’s maniacal

Alcoa ain't altruistic

Shell sells us shit

We drown in it.

Horse blinders in place, we pace

Woe to us, trailing carbon 

With each misstep,

Poisoning ourselves because it’s convenient,

Addictive, this "better living through chemistry."

Let carbon that is in the ground stay there.

Cartoon Pogo said in 1955:

Wanna stay alive? 

"We have met the enemy

The Enemy is US."

Songwriter Joe Henry says Harry Belafonte

Thinks hip-hop is folk music.

Some hip-hop has been co-opted 

Works against its listeners.

Discounting, demeaning women 

Out of anger or angst is to

Demean and discount

The Mother of us all: Mama Earth.

Across the board,

Across all waters, we're angry, hurt, and desperate.

When will we ever learn...

Another folk song...

When will we e-e-e-ver learn?

Krispy Koalas offer us another

View of consequences present,

Consequences to come 

Lest we not jump out of hot water we're in

And race like hell to turn down the heat

Question EVERYthing used, bought, supported.

Question from the perspective of this: 

Is what I'm about to 

Do, Buy, or Use good for the children's 

Children's children's children

To the SEVENTH GENERATION??

If not, I vow not to buy, use, support.

To the best  of my ability.

Untangling the threads of industry,

Chemistry and consequences 

Takes time, takes patience, takes persistence

Not to do that dooms us all

Koalas and Kangas hold for us, perhaps, 

The most iconic rank of cuteness

Will images of them burnt to a crisp melt our hearts and 

Steel our resolve to question Captains of Industry for TRUTH?

If not, what will??

Maybe each of us has a personal tipping point.

What's mine?

Age seven I saw critter bones in oil ooze in Los Angeles

La Brea Tar Pits.

I questioned

At 27, when about to birth my first child

Into a polluted, at war world

I questioned

At 45, I was healing personal affronts 

From my father's unconscious acts of rage

I questioned the raging idiocy of greed

At 63, embarking on hands-on grand parenting,

I questioned more deeply,

Knit Pussy Hats in protest of industry and oligarchs 

Taking over our government, 

Dismantling EPA (Hah! What a joke!)

It has been cross pollinating 

WITH captains of industry since inception.

Revolving door was built between EPA and Monsanto!

Money talks!

They scratch each other's backs as they spin around and

Around and around ~ pulling wool, not pussy hats over our eyes

The friction of it all boosts 

World wide temperatures by 

Geometric proportions

We're cooked. Skewered. Fried

And as vulnerable to burning extinction 

As our dearest, most fragile brethren -

Koalas, kangas, insects we'll never know.

Koalas sleep eighteen hours a day.

We cannot afford to do that.

Guardians/stewards must be vigilant.

Can we grow up and SEE in 2020

Our responsibility? Please?!