Wednesday, August 20, 2025
summer sizzle
The moment the door opens
I hear the sizzle sound of summer
Unseen cicadas seeking sex
Rising in pitch with the heat of the day
On our walk we pass a young child
Asking what is that noise I hear
The same question I asked long ago
But summer is not the same now
The heat waves are hotter and longer
The ozone and particulates and wildfire smoke
Make the air unhealthy to breathe
And flash floods punctuate the droughts
Humans have adapted to tropical heat
And arctic subzero existence
So the extreme weather events of today
Will not of themselves do us in
But if you work outside as I did
You know what it’s like
Or if you don’t have air conditioning
It can be literally life threatening
It doesn’t have to be this way
If sustainability mattered most
But the capitalists aren’t giving up fossil fuel profits
And everyone knows where it's going
Even those who deny why
As conditions keep getting worse
You're on your own in survival mode
Until people and the planet come first
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Monday, August 18, 2025
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Friday, August 15, 2025
visitors
There are no traffic lights in Lubec
Or anyplace else for miles around
Along the Down East Maine coast
Where we escape from the August heat
On occasion someone will wave
As we drive past them in their yard
And I will wave back greeting them
Acknowledging their presence
The roads follow the contour of the land
Up and down and around repeating
In no rush to get anywhere
Riding along with no other car in sight
Stopping at a trailhead destination
We might be the only ones there
Pausing to take in our surroundings
In the quiet absence of machine noise
Hiking breathing in balsam fir air
Marveling at the lush ground cover
Viewing the ocean waves from atop the bluffs
Massage the shore as the tide rises and falls
Visitors in an undisturbed natural place
Where the forest occupies almost completely
Where the retreating glacier recently left behind
A jumble of multicolored beach rocks rolled round
Where the Passamaquoddy still live
In what remains of their ancestral lands
Spanning the arbitrary international border
Keeping their language and traditions alive
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)