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.
