Okologie

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Okologie

“Do not go gentle into that good night--

rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

--Dylan Thomas.

It is interesting to note

       that Ecology is not synonymous with

              the environment. It is a human science,

                       a serious study of the interactions among

              organisms & their environment, an attempt

        to understand the human in humanity, & how

in just a few thousand years

we managed to ape Oedipus,

ravaging, raping, & polluting

our planetary mother.                      Just a century ago,

                                         the timber, oil, & steel industries

                                 were impervious to the harm they

                     did; just obsessed with the gargantuan

              profits they amassed while focusing only

         on the production of the goods & materials 

that were needed/demanded in order to provide,

                                                            to construct

                                                            to fuel

       a terrible Trojan Horse of progress.

                                 Wake up:

If politics were not practiced out of sheer greed,

if lobbyists were not allowed to buy politicians,

if science was not undermined by the teeming minions

       of close-minded superstitious zealots who practice

       the religions of the world,

if intellect was as attractive as fascist demagoguery,

if love could usurp hate, racism, intolerance & ignorance,

if common sense were more than a forgotten pamphlet

       written by a fiery-eyed Thomas Paine,

then maybe earth would stand a chance, rather than being

consumed & destroyed by the contagious carcinogens of

our own nature,

        maybe the innocent planet could side-step the eminent 

                       perils we continue to perpetuate;

        maybe it could actually heal itself, 

                       could flourish and blossom again,

                      

                       could sustain life,

                       could stave off cumulating extinctions,

                       could reciprocate kindness with matriarchal

                       and maternal affection, & we 

                       could feel safe

                       once more in her arms.

But it sure as hell

does not look like that’s going

to happen tomorrow.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets Pub Poetics