I AM A SNOWMAN I am a snowman built from winter snow My eyes are large and round I like to look around I like to play with the people Who built me from the ground I am a Snowman Each year a new Snowman stands here, Wide eyed at the earth Looking at the people who Made them from the snow A new Snowman I am Standing tall and strong Watery Winter Sunshine No! Not that, I feel! The climate change, I feel Standing less round and Closer to the ground I yell to the children, Who built me from the ground Can I have another day? Can you save your Earth, Don’t let us melt away By Linda Hibbard Previously published by Synchronized Chaos, December 2021
Poetry from Gloria E. Lopez
The Great Divide Excessive burning of fossil fuels, coal, gas and oil, green house gases blanketing our world. Entire forests, the lungs of our earth, being cut down and burned. Rising sea levels, wild fires, barren soil, extreme weather adding to the turmoil. Animals of all species struggling to adapt to these rapidly changing conditions, wild fires, melting glaciers or dry lakes, forcing them into extinction. Entire peoples with no resources are forced out of their land, their lives shattered, seeking refuge, fleeing flooding, fleeing drought. Getting as far as neighboring nations, not much better than their own, devastated with such scarcity, quickly losing hope. The rich have raised their land retrofitted, erected walls, the water, having no where else to go, ends up with the poor. We import food, which we then waste, our luxurious lives take a toll, with no regard to those displaced, we lounge care-free in air conditioned homes. Impoverished nations are suffering today, and the rich will suffer tomorrow. Will we take action then, change our ways? Will it be too late? By: Gloria E. Lopez
Poetry from Bruce Roberts
Bikinis in the Arctic!
For 20 million years,
The EOCENE era
Of Earth’s history
Was warm—
So warm, in fact,
That if mankind—
And womankind—
Had been around,
The French Riviera,
The beaches of Florida,
Waikiki—
All would have had
Massive competition
From Arctic resorts—
No ice, and
Temps, beach balmy!
But Earth’s climate
Is a rollerciaster—
33 million years ago,
Cooling happened,
Ice happened,
And we’ve flip-flopped
Ever since.
Glacial,
Interglacial;
Cold,
Hot—
Some scientists say
Every 41,000 years!
In fact,
Our current temps
Are said to be
GLACIAL.
Thus Global Warming
May just be us
Heading for
INTERGLACIAL.
So buy that
Electric Tesla,
Fight for
Zero Carbon Emissions
In every aspect
Of our lives,
And move your house To higher ground.
We can slow
The change down,
But in the long run,
Buy that bikini,
And invest in
Arctic property—
BEACHFRONT!
By Bruce Roberts,
Poet Laureate, Hayward, California
Poetry from Patricia Doyne
NEW AGE
I grew up with thunder.
Summer storms came with sound effects:
a crackling rumble far off,
or a window-rattling blast overhead.
First the forked slash of lightning.
Then: thud, thud, ka-BOOM!
If you’re outdoors, run!
Here comes hard-hitting rain!
Rain beats on the roof, fills puddles,
turns dirt to mud, floods streets.
If you’re driving, windshield wipers can’t keep up.
Look at that! Whoa!
It’s raining cats and dogs!
It’s raining pitchforks and hammer-handles!
It’s a gully-washer! A frog-strangler!
It’s a typical summer thunderstorm:
Flash! Crash! Downpour!
But that was the Midwest
This is California.
In California, storms come in winter.
Except now, when we’re all on edge:
pandemic that sneakily shape-shifts,
job loss, masked classrooms, shortages in stores,
high fire danger…
Now, when temperatures are unseasonably high,
when trees and structures are dry, dry, dry—
here comes a storm.
A freak storm: lightning, thunder--
but only a spit-in-the-wind of rain…
The lightning ignites fires-- 300, 400, 500 fires,
all burning at the same time.
From space, you can easily see California:
it’s gashed with bright orange flame-trails.
Day after day, the air is thick with smoke.
Ash rains down as far as Kansas.
Small favors:
COVID masks also protect from toxic air.
But it can always get worse.
So keep water and survival gear in the car.
If winds change direction, and firestorms threaten:
evacuate.
High heat. Dry lightning.
Two big names join the long-running drama
starring earthquakes, droughts, mudslides and
floods.
California raises the curtain on a new age.
A new normal.
Meet the ruthless new director:
climate change.
Copyright August 2020 Patricia Doyne
FACING A FRAUGHT FUTURE Our planet wears many faces. For eons, it was covered in water, a face with expressions but no features. Then rock reared up, land grew and rearranged, continents shifted. Oceans shared salt with snowmelt. Paramecia and diatoms took a bow, but became food for newcomers with shells, tentacles, fins; for monsters who breathed air and ate meat. Earth’s new face was diversity swallowed by mass extinction. In time, a new family appeared, fought its way to the top of the food chain with large brains and tool-using hands. Earth now reflected this face; worldwide communities reflected its goals. Inventions made daily life easier but more complicated, more expensive. Grasping hands appropriated resources as if there were no tomorrow. Sun that quickened the miracle of plants now fries, burns, and dehydrates. Earth’s new face wears the sneer of a bully who is insecure at heart. What changes will reclaim our planet? Make-up? War paint? Radical surgery? Who decides? Who speaks for a people who wear a thousand masks, shout out a thousand excuses? We look into this fractured mirror and see the face of the future. It is the face of a stranger. Copyright 7/2021 By Patricia Doyne
BOMB CYCLONE Iguanas in palm trees freeze, fall to the ground belly-up next to pink flip-flops frosted with two inches of snow. Water pipes crack. Coastal towns flood. Freeways conceal black ice. Wind chill nosedives from “brr!” to deadly. Flights cancelled. Schools closed. Cars stranded. Power out. The jet stream that fences in arctic air, that keeps polar gusts safely corralled— this current has warmed. Winds, water, and air pressure churn… The mystery mix blasts the homeless, freezing in doorways, blasts stranded travelers, freezing at roadsides, blasts iguanas freezing in trees. Scientists question, measure, shake their heads… Who can deny that our climate has gone berserk? Look! It’s raining iguanas! By Patricia Doyne, Copyright 2018
Poetry from Lizbeth Garcia-Lopez
The Flower Goddess She sat there everyday In her field of flowers. If she was lucky, a human would pass by chatting and laughing with a loved one sometimes they’d even take her flowers! to remember, and make themselves happy When they were done, they would leave and she would sit alone again, alone in her field of flowers. One day felt different, however, there was a weird smell in the air she didn’t mind though, but her flowers did. The next day smelled like that too, and the next, and the day after that. She never saw any humans anymore, and her flowers started to wilt away. She did all she could for them, until one day, she passed out. When she awoke again, she was confused Where were her flowers? Why were there big gray clouds coming from weird machines? Why were there bottles and wrappers everywhere? What was happening? Her flower field! Her Beautiful flower field! Why? she began to cry! Her tears dripped to the floor The Dry, Dead, Grass the land was not ready for her tears! Those machines wanted to destroy the planet. Fine! So be it! Her tears lit the grass aflame It all burned to nothing …even her Silent flames engulfed her… As The Flower Goddess ceased to exist. By Lizbeth Garcia-Lopez, age 12
Poetry from Tess Tyler
Climate Change Catastrophe Safer docking in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, waters in Yemen, pronounced, “Saffer.” About to rot or explode! Potentially leaking gas fumes, and oil into these Arabian and Red Seas. The Houthis won’t talk to anyone but a few. The right actions to change this massive risk IGNORED. And why? Starvation 821 million, One in 9 people, children, malnourished. Yemen, Haiti, Afghanistan, Congo, Nigeria, Madagascar, Southern Sudan, Syria. In a world where Overeating and cardiovascular disease are the number one cause of death. IN A WORLD WHERE CHILDREN STARVE. Mass displacements due to flooding. Where in the world will these people go? Their home awash with loss, destruction: Brazil, 30,000 lives displaced. Jakarta, 400 million meters of rain. Pakistan 300 million lives displaced. Kenya 1 million lives displaced. South Korea, Vietnam, Nagasaki, Venice, Italy! Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Zambia, 700,000 lives uprooted. Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tennessee, California, Rwanda, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Turkey and all of Central America. We have to open our hearts and minds to plan for the next thousand years! We are in the midst of a real climate catastrophe. By Tess Tyler, 11/19/ 2021
Poetry from Al Murdach
Green Jesus My church has a big green Jesus in front. Originally the statue was bronze, I think. Or maybe copper. Something more stately. Well, now it's green so I try to live with it. The pose is impressive: Jesus advances, His arms are raised in welcome, which is comforting and reassuring. However, His green face makes one pause. Is He ill? Is he pretending to be a green man, someone from outer space perhaps? Maybe He hasn't bathed recently and has become a bit moldy. Then again, maybe His color is symbolic. I mean, He did talk about New Life, and green is a Spring-like color. It's also ecological and Jesus often spoke of a New Heaven and Earth. Still, the green is a little off-putting. Kind of makes you want to stay back. But maybe He doesn't like green either! I remember Kermit the frog's lament: “It's not easy being green.” Probably isn't, come to think of it. So maybe it's a lesson in acceptance. With that in mind, I can be okay with green, I guess. It could be worse, after all. I mean, what if he was... purple?!!!!