Poetry Prose and Other Words
by Ken Ingham
Dawning of the Eighth Day
For several years the battle raged,
Some scenes were too gross to mention
But extremism always helps
To focus the people's attention
Those who used to turn their heads
In spite of all the proof
Were sensitized by Points of Light
And wanted now to know the truth
They opened up their sticky eyes
Their hearts and minds became like sponges
Groundswell quests for truth were launched
In hillbilly bars, yuppie lounges
In coffee houses all over the world
On the internet, in the workplace
Deep conversations of great substance
About the goal, the purpose, the mission, if any
Of the highly intelligent human race
Rationality was important
No opinion could be blind
Assertions made with no support
Were challenged or left behind
Books that previously went unread
Became dog-eared and tattered
Thoughts once muttered or left unsaid
Were now uttered as if they mattered
Arguments broke out, emotions flared
But most held their tempers at bay
Vide infra to become aware
Of what some of those characters had to say
Go to hell
You tree huggin’ son of a bitch!
Who asked for your stupid opinion?
Don’t tell me I can’t dig a ditch
On the land over which
I’ve been given dominion
I bought this swamp decades ago
Useless mud, mosquito infested
Now drained and filled, it's ready to go
For many returns on what was invested
Invested by whom?
You greedy capitalist developer schnook
Your contribution is minuscule
Compared to the thousands of years that it took
To establish this watery vestibule
Where runoff pauses to give up pollutants
Before entering the Chesapeake Bay
Where amphibians thrive, ducks dabble and dive
Small mammals and raptors breed and play
Then comes one thoughtless man
Armed with a dozer
Destroys it in a single day
Look Buddy
People want new homes near the water
Where they can watch the osprey catch fish
Who are you to stand in the way
Of them fulfilling their wish?
It’s a free country
It’s a matter of supply and demand
It’s an opportunity to get ahead
They have the money, I have the land
This land belongs not just to you
Other species live here too
Wild animals need space to roam
It’s wrong to keep them in a zoo
As it was wrong to relegate
Red people to reservations
More so now to annihilate
The Big Blue Heron's habitation
Marbled Murlet! Spotted Owl
What's all the friggin' fuss?
I don't want to lose my job
If its them or us, I vote for us
I’ve got payments to make, mouths to feed
Why should I forsake a profit?
This is my property – here’s my deed
Now why don’t you just get off it!
Listen!
Property rights are a human construct
Animals don’t recognize our boundaries
Deer leap fences, bears cross state lines
Birds traverse latitudes of many degrees
This Earth is theirs and ours to share
We're all becoming endangered creatures
Each animal and plant, each organism
Has unique and worthy features
Damn right! Including me!
Remember
God created heaven and earth
And all that grows beneath the skies
And then made man and unto man
Bequeathed these things to utilize
No way!
Nature was never ours to own
Just a loan to ease our mourn
Left by the dead for we the living
Borrowed from the yet unborn
(whose numbers grow in spite of all
the efforts to forewarn)
Hey!
It's written in the Bible, Nerd
Be fruitful and multiply
Who are you to question the word
Of the Lord Almighty God on High?
Start a family! Conceive! Beget!
Spread your progeny yon and hither
Fill the land with believers and let
The lowly heathens wither
But for what end? Whose will be done
If all the Earth is blemished?
In that same breath that same god said
That Earth should be replenished
i.e., once again made full and complete
That's the meaning of God's plan
Remember, God also created
Wilderness
wherein there be
no roads or man
Saying :
Hurt not the earth
nor the sea nor the trees
defile it not with detestable things
speak to the earth and it shall teach thee
Ye have no preeminence over a beast.
Come on -
Human beings don't blemish the earth
Are you a misanthrope of some kind?
If you're so down on civilization
How do you hope to change its mind?
Civilization?
I remember when that word meant
The opposite of barbarism
Literature art music science
The hard-won fruits of martyrism
But viewed by Indian braves and squaws
Or from the standpoint of ancient trees
Civilization becomes the main cause
Of Gaia's spreading skin disease
I concede
Modern living takes a toll
But your prose exaggerates the cons
Tell me which do you prefer
master bathrooms or outdoor johns?
Paris, London, New York, Rome
These weren't built with magic wands
Great cities of the world my friend
Are not the work of leprechauns
If great cities symbolize collective achievement
The edge of the wedge of what is humane
Then we should all be in affective bereavement
Our cities are writhing in pain
Their inflammation festers outward
Grays replacing greens and blues
Obliterating open space
Expanding the size of the bruise
I know, and yet
I love down town, the parks and squares
The underground Metro stations
Ethnic restaurants, theaters, shoppes
Political demonstrations
Second hand book stores, libraries
Courses at the university . . . .
The many faces of different races
The cultural diversity
Diversity ? Don’t be preposterous!
Let’s not confuse the meaning of words
The number of species in a given metropolis
Varies inversely with the tonnage of turds
Dropped, flushed, processed and mixed
With parking lot runoff, dumped in the river
Suffocating fish and macro-invertebrates
Poisoning someone down stream's liver
And those who dwell in the highest towers
With the most elaborate plumbing
Can't wait to escape with their purchasing power
The islanders applaud their coming
Send us your rich and weary masses
Desperately seeking peace of mind
We've got plenty of lower classes
To cheaply provide what you leave behind
With scuba gear and four wheel drives
We encroach upon real diversity
Hotels appear, development thrives
Soon there's just another city
Golly!
I can't believe your attitude
Don't be so easily fooled
Would you prefer an older world
Where lions and tigers ruled
Where danger lurked
Behind each bush
Snakes d
a
n
g
l
e
d
From every tree
And hungry hyenas
Cast silhouettes tall
On the moonlit wall
Of your flimsy tipi
Or maybe an even earlier time
When fire was a mystery
That sometimes happened
After a storm
When winter was more
Than a time to get warm
By the stove
Reading natural history
No!
We don't want to go back in time
Say women more often than men
In spite of all the drugs and crime
Life is better than it was then
Before the machines and appliances
That ease our drudgery
Before the advent of law and order
The judge and jury
Before the end of robber barons
Before the slaves were set afloat
Before women inched out from under men
And clinched their right to vote
But also my Dear
Before weapons of mass destruction
Before the word fire became a verb
Before the fascists made it illegal
To partake of the seven-leafed herb
And before we learned in such detail
The ecosystems of our planet
Before Earth as we knew it became so frail
Before humanity over-ran it
Here is the truth that makes me shudder
Honey, if not even we can agree
How can we hope to convert the others
In time to avert a catastrophe?
You see,
Nature's problems ultimately stem
From the inequality of the sexes But heaven forbid if women ever did
To men what they could with their hexes
Men like to think they're in control
But women since the time of the nomads
Have quietly practiced the marital art
Of manipulating men through their gonads
It's true!
Testosterone is potent stuff
It regulates the macho genes
Induces rutting butting and strutting
Especially in the middle teens
When horns are grown and oats are sewn
And boys do what ever they fuckin’ wanna
The remedy is simple enough
Just legalize marijuana
Oh Please! You’re becoming irrational
I can’t believe you’re serious
Giving boys marijuana?
You must be delirious
Not at all
Tetrahydrocannabinol
Though still inadequately tested
Is clearly safer than alcohol
Aside from the risk of getting arrested
Marijuana is illegal because
It impairs memory and motivation
Distorts time accelerates the heart
Induces paranoia and hallucinations
Hey, you forgot cancer and lung disease
And what about expecting mothers?
Let’s face it, all drugs can be misused
But some are worse than others
Tobacco kills a half million each year
Booze destroys whole communities
Yet cigarettes snuff liquor and beer
Are advertised and sold with impunity
But marijuana is just the first step
Next they’ll be listening to the Beatles
Starting out with a toke may seem hep
But they could end up
With an armful of needles
The fact is,
Legalization of that harmless plant
Could diminish the market for harder drugs
By allowing folks to get what they want
Without doing business with criminal thugs
Who lace the leaf with stronger stuff
Hoping to get you hooked and craving
To the point where you become desperate enough
To give them your entire life’s savings
But users seem dopey
With their dilated pupils and bloodshot eyes
Their fascination with flickering lights
Their inexplicable giggles . . .
What about their aversion to picking fights?
A world program to introduce the weed
Responsibly, of course, at appropriate times
As a right of passage when taking the creed
With lighting of candles and ringing of chimes
And thereafter used in moderation
An occasional pinch in the morning on oat meal
Could lower global testosterone levels
Engendering peace and good will
Yeah sure
Feminism, love in the street
Sexual preferences freely disclosed
No more reason to be discreet
Let's all smile and take off our clothes
And get in a pile
And do unto each other
Whatever each other
Would want the other to do
Ah, but human beings are so abundant
And soaring eagles so precious few
And far between
When occasionally seen
Close up through my field glasses
I sense that my love for vanishing birds
Exceeds my love for the human masses
Consider this:
With respect to social
evolution our species has yet
to fully flower. While sometimes
sharing and helping each other, more
often we fight over money and power
over food and land, oil and water, or
to settle a historical score. For
reasons we don’t understand
we’re caught in a vortex
of violence
and war.
We
need
to practice
resolving conflicts
making collective decisions.
We need to formulate common goals,
articulate collective visions, to identify
issues on which we concur, write them
into our constitution. It takes a majority
of at least two thirds but its less traumatic
than revolution. Those issues on which
nobody agrees should be debated
over fences, across all social
boundaries, an ongoing
search for global
consensus
Right on brother!
But what about the animals?
Who will speak on their behalf?
The wolf, the whale, the salmon the quail
The pigs and the cows - don't laugh!
Much of the land we cultivate
To feed the animals we eat
Could be restored to a natural state
If we could get by with less meat
Beans and rice, tofu and spice, that’s
What little vegans are made - I wonder
How do they manage to stay alive
They look like they’re dying of hunger
Actually, they’ll probably live longer
Vegetarianism might have seemed stupid
In a jungle full of beasts that would eat us
But now the jungle is null and void
The world is dripping with humanoids
Who break out in fights
While debating the rights
Of another ill-conceived unwanted fetus
Sad!
Monkeys and rats, rabbits and cats
Bred to die on laboratory benches
Fetal tissue confuses the issue
Where draw the lines?
Where dig the trenches?
Animal research must proceed
How else are we to learn the ABC’s
Of mammalian physiology
In sufficient detail to cure disease
Or advance transplantation biology?
Speaking of which
I need to fix my broken heart
It can't sustain me too much longer
I need a quick cardiac jumpstart
Please call the local organ-monger
Find him a ticker that won't get rejected
A baboon’s or gorilla’s might fix him
But he'll pay quicker and more than expected
For that of a well-matched accident victim
Is it fair to take the throbbing heart
Of a vanishing distant cousin
To spare the life of an old fart like me
When human beings are a dime a dozen?
I think not said Ishmael
Through the bars of his circus wagon
With haunting eyes that mesmerize
He asked me: try to imagine
That you were vanishing and we were in charge
How would you like to live in a cage
Waiting around for your next injection
Of hepatitis or AIDS?
What makes you think you're so special
So different from me and the chimpanzee?
What if your creation story is wrong?
What if God views us all equally?
What then will happen if after you die
And arriving at heaven’s security gate
The guard on duty checking credentials
Turns out to be a hairy primate?
If you had paid more attention in bible school
You would know that’s highly improbable
And as for AIDS, well that’s just God’s way
Of punishing the abominable
Those promiscuous swappers of bodily fluids
Who by divine revelation were given the answer
But chose to ignore the ultimate question
Even when faced with the prospect of cancer
Who knows the answer, no one for sure
We're the first species to even care
The first to ask about the hereafter
Maybe the first to become aware
Enough to evolve a global conscience
The Noösphere of Vernadsky
And de Chardin
An epigenetic memetic ethic
Empirically rooted in the land
We may not be the chosen ones
But we are unique, the way we think
Our capacity for ecstasy and sorrow
What other species is able to link
Yesterday with now and tomorrow?
We visualize, extrapolate
Comprehend portentous trends
We realize if only of late
It is us on whom the future depends
This awareness presses down
Demands that we explore
The essence of our inner selves
Try to put an end to war
Not just war between each other
But war against our fellow critters
The kingdoms of plants and animals
For whom we've become the sitters
And thinkers and wonderers
The ones with a vision of what could be
If those who advocate peace, save the whales
Could only get through to the rest of thee
(Especially you wannabe alpha males)
You’re too romantic! Impractical!
The threat of war will always be
A strong defense is critical
To save us from our enemies
Who feign belief in world freedom
Then break international law
Too much power in those hands
Will pose a threat to the latest thaw
Racism
Fascism
Terrorism
Nationalism
Superpowerism
Ethnic Cleansing
Religious Fanaticism
Compassionate Conservatism
Genocide victims caught in the crunch
And underlying all of this – Speciesism
The most insidious of the bunch
Wilderness whispers its urgent request
Soft music in the trees, can you hear it?
Imploring us to cease and desist
And give gist to that human spirit
That sense of hope, that confidence
That common desire for common good
That growing body of knowledge
That vision, if only we could . . . . . . . .
Lots o’ luck!
The vision thing seems to have disappeared
The values of the now/me generation
Were commandeered by marketeers
Of instant gratification
As if each day might be their last
They grew up with a vision of horror
Like Henny Pennys
Waiting for the sky to fill
With nuclear war
Yes still
Say it softly, nuclear war
And what about their progeny
Born before The Day After aired?
Caution - this program contains material
That will make your children really scared!
End of History, End of Nature
End of Oil and the American Dream
Who can afford a detached home
Let alone a cabin by a stream?
Whoa! Cheer up!
There’s no reason to be so blue
We’ve got supply side economics
And market forces to pull us through
Yes, market forces, read my lips
Will solve the current conundrum
Wealth will fall upon the rich
And trickle down to all those under'em
Hurumph!
Trickle down, yeah, sure, my ass
Your choice of metaphor is strange
What trickles down to the working class
Are the pebbles and crumbs the small change
Market forces, like wild horses, stampede
On their own without provocation
Capitalism if unimpeded
Will drive the Earth into privation
No it won’t
Not if we get a reign
On those over-reaching bureaucrats
They're the problem if you ask me
Get the regulators off our backs
Antitrust is blasphemy
Cut the capital gains tax
Insure Silverado Savings and Loan
Military: prepare to attack
On multiple sides of the globe
Woe is me
Even if we all agreed
How can we change the way we live
When the Bottom Line requires that
We take more than we give?
Oh Bottom Line, in thee we trust
Thou symbol of financial health
Now black now red, now boom now bust
Thou measure of success and wealth
The Bottom Line has come to be
An object of deification
Worthy of human sacrifice
On the altar of corporate salvation
Oh Bottom Line I pledge to thee
To never paint thee red
When e'er the ink is turning pink
I'll simply roll another head
A theme to spread around the world
West, from Rome to VeniceGive me profit, or give me death!
Annihilate the Great Red menace
Give me the Bottom Line, dammit!
Just give me the Bottom Line!
I can’t!
The magnitude and sign of the Bottom Line
Depend on how computed
Depletion deductions are asinine
How could we have been so deluded?
The precious oil that goes to waste
Millions of barrels of crude are spilled
And natural gas consumed in haste
So we can get nude in the winter, unchilled
OK! I get the point!
Eliminate waste! Abolish greed!
But let the fossil fuel flow
Cheap energy is guaranteed
To make our economy grow
Growth! Growth!
I'm sick of growth!
Our growth economy sucks
Our Mother's Milk relentlessly
And shits it out the other end
Of mostly empty pickup trucks
And vans and sedans as fast as it can
With no alternative in sight
But when our Mother's breast runs dry . . .
Day will be day . . . . .
And night shall once again be night
Petroleum production is about to peak
And natural gas soon after in turn
At the rate its being consumed today
My grandsons will see the last of it burn
And then what?
Not a problem.
We’ve got nukes
Quiet, clean, no soot no smoke
No harmful greenhouse gases
No acid rain, and when they're broke
Just tuck them into Gaia’s crevasses
Yeah but . . . .
What institution could ever outstay
The multi-millennial half-lives
To oversee the natural decay
Of those hot and heavy nuclei?
Deadly plutonium leaches still
From Chernobyl's cracked sarcophagi
The spine of Grenoble sustains a chill
At the thought of a similar tragedy
Not to worry!
The engineers have now perfected
A foolproof failsafe fission reactor
The probability of major release
Has been reduced to a trivial factor
Huh!
Trivial say those with great compose
Whose livelihoods belie their bias
Smiling at us down their nose
Their arguments don't satisfy us
They can't guarantee an accident free
Nuke no matter how wired
Foolproof indeed they’d better be
Who else but a fool would agree to be hired?
Stop squabbling!
They're all fools, forgive them Lord
They know not what they do
And if I choose to smite a few
It's not because I don't love you
Its just that, well
There's too many people
And not enough food to feed them all
And the Pope says to Hell with birth control
Except for premature withdrawal
(or abstinence for those who respond
to the highest call)
Get hold of yourself, your too up tight
There's no reason to panic yet
According to the latest polls
The doomsday sayers are soakin' wet
There's food enough to feed the world
Even the hordes in the barrios
Thomas Malthus was a wimp
I'm sick of these dire scenarios!
Polls don't measure truth, Boy Scout
The masses are largely uninformed.
Most can’t even think about
The reasons why the earth has warmed
They watch insipid TV shows
Sponsored by free enterprise
And if they get their shopping done
They’ll vote for the best advertized
I swear!
To hear you going off like that
I wonder if you went to school
You do believe in democracy, don’t you?
You do believe in majority rule?
Of course!
I believe in democracy
Ain’t never been nothin' better
I learned that before I earned
my high school varsity letter
Constitution, Bill of Rights
The evils of communitysm,
Adam Smith, Henry Ford
The marvels of capitalism
But the forefathers didn’t anticipate
One of democracy’s little imperfections
The extent to which those who incorporate
Would come to influence public elections
With checkbooks ready they circle the obelisk
Grateful for their corporate personhood
With all of its benefits and none of the risk
Why worry about the common good?
If you truly believe in democracy
Then you’ll love this antidote
Let’s put the charters of the Fortune 500
To a periodic popular vote
yEEGads! Take him away!
How would we compete with other nations
In the game now played on global stages
Which, by the way, if we win will give us the jobs
With the easiest work and the highest wages
NAFTA and GATT are where it’s at
The rules on which the captains agree
But the players are quick to notice that
There ain’t enough referees
The season seems to never end
The box office never closes
And keeping score is such a chore
When you don't even know what the goal is
With all due respect
Can anybody tell me
What we are trying so hard to build?
When we’ve completed our various missions
What conditions will be fulfilled?
Will there be peace and prosperity?
How many weeks of vacation with pay?
Will everyone have a second home
In the mountains overlooking the Bay?
A car for work, a car for play
A closet full of three piece suits?
Will we be allowed to loiter in the meadow
Making love and playing flutes?
Get serious you socialist yippee!
You probably voted for LBJ.
That Great Society of welfare Hippies
Unwilling to pay their own way.
Gimmee gimmee gimmee gimmee!
That stuff drives me berserk.
If you pay people for being lazy
Why would anybody work?
Here's why!!
A peer's approval, a neighbor's respect
A pat on the back when in need
These are true sources of motivation
Alternatives to money and greed
Inner peace, meaningful work
Progress toward a worthy cause
Affirmation, a friendly hug
Gentle teasing, a few guffaws, Yes!
Tears of joy, uncontrolled laughter
These are what we're working for
They cleanse the heart, revive the soul
And pump us up to work some more
Oh brother!
You are off the deep end
Materialism is here to stay
After millions of years of evolution
It’s locked up in our DNA
Like bein' straight or bein' gay
It’s all been prearranged
Like gettin' old and turnin' gray
Lets accept what we can't change
Here, have another glass of Dubonet
Drink by yourself
You deranged fatalist!
I'm not in the mood to down one now
I want to stimulate change, be a catalyst,
Turn the trends around somehow.
I believe in human potential
To recognize and mend collective errors.
I want to help make things better
For yours and my children and theirs.
Its gonna happen, in our lifetime.
Were getting smarter every day.
If you don't want to participate......
Please, get thee but out of the way!
move on to Ecoepic - Part IV
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