Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Threnody


image borrowed from for wallpaper.com


Threnody

“A lament in one ear, maybe, but always a song
in the other.”--Sean O’Casey.

The Republicans
assure us that global warm-
ing is a liberal lie.

I just read where Tom Selleck’s whole avocado orchard
died of drought. He paid for & hauled in water--& the
County sued him for breaking archaic ordinances;
go figure. 

In the Northwest, our last two summers have been screaming
scorchers, while in California, where many of my friends live,
there has been a murderous cauldron of angry drought, 
followed by heavy rainfall, mud slides & flash flooding. We
are experiencing a radiative imbalance clear across the
country. 14 out of the 15 hottest days in history have happened
since 2000. Industry & utilization of fossil fuels for transportation
have stoked the intensity of greenhouse gases. Measured
concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, & ozone are now
at higher levels than any time in the last 800,000 years.

Here on the west coast, this Fall, it seems that rivers rage over
their parched banks causing massive flooding. The lovely
Indian Summer has packed up it’s hogans & slipped way
South under the cover of darkness. Last week the first
frost wilted the last of the flower boxes on our deck. Every
month there are more price hikes on meat & produce secondary
to panic & manipulation. The oil barons continue to push us
around & reap the rewards of our carefully controlled fear.
We begin to feel that we reside in a battle zone under constant
peril.

Granted, men can adjust to any environment, & we are bred &
socialized to survive. But look to the poets, who believe that
even in hell one can find flowers to admire, & sunrises to greet,
& sundowns to gush over, & children & pets to hug. 

Common sense tells us
the difference between bullshit
& actual science.


Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Poetics

15 comments:

Victoria said...

Well-observed, well-expressed commentary, Glenn. Yours is a powerful voice, begging to be heard.

Grace said...

That is a great imbalance of nature's gifts and seasons ~ Sad to read that despite this, the oil barons are laughing all the way to the bank ~ Climate change is real ~ Enjoyed this one Glenn ~ See you at OLN this Thursday ~

KB said...

Glenn, I have yet to meet a good poet who has not written a poem entitled 'Threnody'--great word. You have an excellent prose style I had not ever seen before. Well composed and laid out. Reminded me of John Mc Phee. Rally well done. I hope you are exploring that part of your writing. I can't write prose for shit except when I do my Writing Journal Entries o my blog. But then I just have an idea about what I want to talk about and just let go--not always successful but works for me. But the piece you wrote would take me a week to get the first sentence down.Great read, >KB

Mary said...

You tell it like it really is, Glenn! The weather definitely is unpredictable...perhaps, however, more predictable than the coming and goings of the oil barons! And as for b...s...., sigh, sometimes I do wonder if common sense can discern the difference. Smiles.

Marina Sofia said...

It seems to me this is written both in your own voice but I also detect another voice there of 'folksy' common-sense, if you like. Like Everyman, with greatly inflected oral patterns. Or am I reading too much into it?

Bodhirose said...

Really enjoyed your threnody, Glenn. I had read that about Tom Selleck and how he got in trouble with the authorities. I like your last line in reference to poets, true...but not so flattering.

Sanaa Rizvi said...

Excellent prose :D this one's a winner!!

Katie Mia Frederick said...

Sign
colder
heArtaffray
with mother
earth.. oxytocin
receptors escape
feet of love connecting
Nature one.. hate of Nature
icy cold soul.. where no home
exists but in green of
milled
paper
torch light
dies freedoms
home now still..:)

vb holmes said...

Well-expressed commentary on the vagaries of nature, the impact of man and nature on our present lives, and a hopeful observation that we will adapt in the future. In the meantime, we should all have the luxury of believing like the poets--makes that future look rosier.

Truedessa said...

The weather can be unsettling and it can be scary at times. It has been a warm fall so far here and today it has been raining. I think the best we can do is prepare for nasty weather if possible but, even then there is destruction beyond our control.

How are you Glenn? I have been coming by to see if you have left anymore scenes from that western script.

Glenn Buttkus said...

Thanks for stopping by, TD. I missed the OLN two weeks ago secondary to home remodeling, but another episode of BLACKTHORNE (Scene 49) will be posted tomorrow at dVerse.

tonispencer said...

Threnody - wonderful word. I think I wrote a poem with that title a million years ago but it does not begin to approach this. I am cynical and regret we have done too much bad to our earth. Just what we need: warming that will upset various cycles and spin us into an ice age. Being one of those who knows shit from shinola, I enjoyed the senryku at the end and had to give a rueful laugh. I hope for a better future but the realist just shakes her head and mutters. Excellent job on this prompt and the different take on it.

Other Mary said...

I find the republican denial of fact and science so frustrating. Well observed, Glen.

Unknown said...

I think that anyone with eyes to see can see that significant damage has been done to this earth in the name of corporate greed. We all need to step up and do our part to make this a better place.

brudberg said...

I'm still waiting an oil baron to write poetry on the blessings of his greed... the recoil of the oil hits us with the storms and droughts the floods, and blood of battlefields to come.. indeed a threnody the warm wind of an indian summer.