Mill Creek Marsh July 31, 2016

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Kittitinny Valley to Paulinskill WMA July 30, 2016

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July, 2016

The sun rising on another hot summer day

Stirring the chorus of cicadas in the trees

Calling out their invitation to procreation

A signal to us to seek out the shade.

Now is the peak proliferation time for insects

The butterflies dancing random patterns in the meadow

The dragonflies as predators patrolling the pond

The fireflies at dusk flashing silent streaks.

Now the bird calls fade out as their nests are empty again

Song sparrow notes one, two, three then trill diminishing

Wood thrush flute notes and rattle rarely sounding forth

Catbirds, mockingbirds and cardinals most often heard.

The heat wave continues in the hottest month

In the hottest year on record every month so far

While the ruling political parties convene their candidates

Leaving us to choose between catastrophe and disaster.

The electric grid strung across the forest of curbside poles

So necessary to modern life with air conditioned relief

Buzzes as if there are cicadas trapped in the wires

Impatient to transform the capitalist system.

The neofascist versus the neoliberal response to the crisis

Policies that put private profit ahead of human needs

The inexorable dead end for the people of the world

A social revolution the obvious solution so difficult to do.

And yet when I imagine the future the outcome is certain

How else can the sweep of human history be told

No matter that the current weight of inertia seems intractable

What was before is no more and what is now will be gone.

Echo Lake July 24, 2016

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NJBG July 21, 2016

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