I had heard years ago about the quickly shrinking Ogallala Aquifer, but there is much more that is equally as scary here. Hard as it is to face, we should all be aware of it and vote accordingly!!!
https://therumpus.net/2019/06/climate-fiction-and-the-great-american-desert/
Photo by Josh Coleman on Unsplash. Used with permission.
Side Effects
Why does all that’s happening continue to astound us?
We’re doing penance for the plenitude that is around us.
Plastic on our beaches, pollutants in the air,
temperatures grown so extreme that we can hardly bear
the world we’ve grown around us. The hurricanes and flooding
that are just the start of things—the poison flower’s budding.
All the miracles of science with which we seek to heal
bring along their opposite as payment in the deal.
We dabble in our nurturing while majoring in our skills
of what we manufacture that ultimately kills.
Cancer in our Teflon and all the poisonous chrome
building up around us everywhere we roam.
Mercury and fluoride, lead and styrofoam
contribute to our comfort but construct a lethal home.
Science often cures us. It comforts and it saves,
but all its buried side-effects may finally dig our graves.
Prompt words today were nurture, dabble, plenitude and penance.
Sanctuary
What happened to dragons? What happened to fairies?
Banished by scientists and actuaries,
their truth of existence just can’t be computed.
The fact they exist is too soundly refuted.
Yet every child, awake in his bed,
knows they exist right there in his head!
The dVerse Poets prompt today was to write a quadrille (44 words) on the subject of dragons.
Empty Praise
There was a time when awesome really meant ”inspiring awe”—
events like the moon landing that made one drop one’s jaw,
sights of numbing beauty or achievements of great skill,
art pieces by the masters or achievements of great will.
Yosemite is awesome and so is Everest.
Those climbing it are “awesome.” You know they are the best.
But today the word has fallen into widespread use—
ubiquitous right to the point where it’s become abuse.
Rap music is most awesome, as is that way-cool blouse.
You drive an awesome car and live inside an awesome house.
My neighbor’s kids are awesome. So are her dog and cat.
Her tummy tuck is awesome, as is my purse and hat.
You might have guessed by now that awesome’s not my favorite word.
I think the overuse of it is frankly quite absurd.
This pizza is not awesome, though you may find me petty
for saying it is merely good, and so is the spaghetti.
Your child is lovely, so’s your dress, your silverware and smile.
But none of them are awesome—that word brings up my bile.
Please use some other word for it—some adjectival jaw full.
Because in my opinion, using awesome’s simply awful!!
Fandango’s prompt word for today is awesome, Since I wrote a poem five years ago about this very word, I’m reprinting it here with some minor changes.
Nancy Merrill is sponsoring a photo challenged entitled Nostalgia. Here is my take on the matter:
I think the year was around 1952. We were gathered for a play put on by the two cowgirls at the top of this photo. Susan, the tallest girl and also the older sister of one of the cowgirls, doesn’t look overly enthusiastic about being there. I was the little blonde girl overacting in the second row and the sister of the other cowgirl. I was their “mystery personality.” Anyone who guessed who I was (The Sunbeam Bread Girl) got a prize. They put on a few of these productions and I always thought they were wonderful. The year before, my mystery personality had been Bonnie Braids (of Dick Tracy fame.) When they called out, “Who knows who the mystery personality is?” Bobby Lathrop yelled out, “That’s Judy Dykstra!!!” and I cried. Ah, nostalgia
Retirement?
My future is amorphous. It has no shape or plan.
Up the creek without a paddle, I have no job or man.
My freedom? It is ludicrous. I’m well out of the chase.
All my time is leisure time. I live a slower pace.
Who named this phase re-tirement? There’s nothing that is tiring.
If they want to tire me out again, they’d best replace my wiring.
Prompt words today are chase, ludicrous, amorphous and paddle.
