A Bandon Evening
Sun and Rain Fighting for control Wind blasting Ocean pounding Foam blowing Gulls soaring Infinite Beauty And awe That Earth Honors me to be its Witness
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Caught in a vortex of time & space
Between life mileposts Buying, selling, packing, moving Avoiding smoke Avoiding Covid Escaping the outreaching hands of gloom I opened my photo files To find Beauty Light Sunshine Hope A place we have lived And will be back to Soon Low tide at Bandon Reveals great and surprising beauty To those with eyes to see This morning I took a walk Sunrising over the bluff A half-filled pool of reflection Natural Beauty Outshining all darkness All doubt, fear, anxiety Lifting my spirit, and Connecting me with What is Outside my walls, the
Invading COVID-19 Army Marches on Advancing as The world bunkers down, against This enemy Sub microscopic Nanomachines A brilliant AI Weapon Deployed By Earth Against larger HS machines Invading Her Body Destroying Her health Martian Chronicles Playing out No hoax this time In real time Outside my walls And yours Trillions spent To fight each other Our smart weapons Aimed, armed stupidly Useless here Against this enemy Our leaders Silenced science Defunded our Defenses Sold the sentries Who would have warned us Now, too late We can only Sit and wait And watch And wonder Will “fake” science Rising again from the death Of defunding Rescue me In time The nano enemy It’s stealth technology Invades our cells Weeks before we know Moving along roads of breath Sailing on air Through our social system What is the high tech Trillion dollar solution Social distancing Self isolation Schools close Borders close Every human public gathering Marshal Lawed Humans unite World wide Like no Humane cause could Universal health care Basic minimum wage Maternity leave Trillions of US Dollars Lost, now found By otherwise Heartless politicians Maybe Dripped to We the People Countless more To bail out Campaign donors For this moment Earth is winning HS created Earth destroying Carbon gasses Slow flowing What 40 years of Climate science Education Countless meetings Corporate denials Couldn’t accomplish (Earth is mad now!) Human populations Stops growing Industrial destruction Slows Nature one Humans zero As the first inning ends This could be A game changer It could be that Humans, world-wide (Jim the optimist) Learn something Love, care for each other Come together Learn to share Join to save each other Join to save our ecosystem Join to save our planet Join to save ourselves But these are very, very long odds A new paradigm Of Earth Wisdom Is needed, a Virus to grow our soul Not just Infecting Business as usual As is COVID-19 But Destroying it Long odds, indeed Against zombied Foxered Humanity March 5, 2020, Portland, Oregon
(Inspired by Thomas Berry-”The Great Work”) We did not choose the moment of our birth We did not choose our parents We did not choose our brothers and sisters We did not choose our place, race, culture Nor did we choose the historic moment We find ourselves in The nobility of our lives Depends on The manner in which we Come to understand and Fulfill our assigned Role In this moment As we open our eyes And find ourselves Standing in this New millennium We are thrown into an existence With a challenge A role Beyond our personal choice We enter With an Earth inherited, From our parents And theirs And theirs And three billion years Of life on Earth Our own special role Which we will hand our children Is managing the arduous transition From the Terminal Cenozoic Age, To the emerging Ecozoic Age* The period when humans Become participating members in The comprehensive Earth community A transition from Human devastation to Human cooperation From human rights To the rights of Nature From property rights for unlimited human exploitation To Stewardship rights Temporarily granted For rebuilding nature And removed When violated We must believe that those powers that Assign this role to us must In that same act bestow upon us The ability to fulfill this role This is “The Great Work” Of our new millennium You've got to love Portland when these amazing talents come to town and share their poetry, music and stories with us.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2020/02/24/former-un-climate-chief-calls-for-civil-disobedience/?fbclid=IwAR1x9jGhPvFJTH5eINYuHSRTEQA1Zucr6il2-Dxy2AzsGCqUFVd8xE-JVCk#6aed86233214 February 25, 2020
Something happened today In 1946, I think this was the day Or nearly, at least My parents married Portland, Oregon In the home of Blanche and Morris Hodge Their lifelong friends Morris, a photographer did those honors And we have them today in memorium Their first year was extraordinary In ways Nearly beyond imagining Opening with new love Expectation Limitless hope The whole world beaconing Closing in the polio ward Of Children's Hospital, San Francisco A baby born And handed to the Spregs For care What must Mary and Max Endured In year 1 Of their union? The miracle Among many Was the glue Commitment Love Infinitely bestowed On one another How the realization “It is polio” Must have struck them Mary so deep in fever Max in loving action How the hospital could lose her in their bowels Left to die, alone, painfully Max, threatening to call the newspaper Unless she is moved, NOW to San Francisco An unmoving administrator Does the impossible And she, transferred Her life saved, barely And how does Mary’s sharp mind Mold meaning Comprehend Understand And grip The new “normal” Into which she is rolling Not capable of walking Diagnosis Polio A year of thinking Listening to children crying Longing for their parents Long days Longer nights I can barely imagine Lost in her own mind How did she and my father Escape this Hell With hope And still together When so many other couples Coped By uncoupling to leave The pain behind Or try I suspect, not succeeding Really My parents first year comes to mind As I ponder the choices Set before me Yesterday, 2020 Her symptoms of illness As measured by atmospheric CO2 hit 414.09 ppm Up from 310 the year my mother’s fever peaked Earth's fever Is rising There is no hospital to take Her to What should I do? What does my moral compass require of me? Act, to save Her life Scream with fury Cry out in neutered anguish Accept and adapt Uncouple my mind From this reality And just go on I think I can learn from them Love each other, completely Without reservation No matter what Love the Earth completely, with reservation, no matter what Act to improve that which we can (Dad brought movies, weekly to entertain the children) And then this habit continued, against all odds Life-long Give in to optimism Laugh a lot Find beauty everywhere Be astonished (thank you Mary Oliver) Observe and report Live fully Nothing pleases a parent more than Observing Her children thriving So - Thrive Monday, Feb 24, 2020 - 7AM
I am intertwined With everyone I’ve ever cared about, or Cared for, or Who has cared about or for Me This loving attachment Extends her vines Beyond separation, Time Distance Death, even My memory Travels back along her Twisting strands As if it were earlier today Or yesterday past my nights dreams My parents smiling Back at me Holding hands Sitting by the window Watching the red sunrise And speaking of love And life And eternity My sweetheart Partner Life co-creator 44 years of love Support Caring Deep attachment Until the living strand Snapped With the finality of A guillotine I left Standing Lost In a strange Lonely Place Not alone, really Surrounded Supported By a community of caring All those intertwined in our lives Were holding me In their arms Crawling forward On my hands and knees Out of darkness Guided by roots and tendrils Mycorrhizal connections Feeling my way forward Ah, a new junction In the fibers Awakened memory fired Half century lost Joyfully Emerging Back Into view Like spring wisteria Twining and reaching Nourishing each other New joy Happiness Love Light Color returned To my life And hers Then Suddenly Our magic carpet Held by hope And dreams Dropped groundward I ask “why?” How can such a perfect Fruit Spoil Perhaps not tended to Enough Perhaps She and Me lost In We Perhaps I Not willing Not able To speak my truth And hers My Soul I Muffled Pierced my denial A language Of emotions Speaking, shouting? Anxiety, moodiness, depression Distance The antidote Unwinding Untangling The Me But too late Something was dying Had died In the phloem Wordlessly For love We parted Returning to each Their life Sadness came Love remains Some loss Much gain And then Emerging from Perhaps past lives Perhaps our karma Perhaps, just the Love of the Universe In which we are all intertwined Or just the luck of a winning scratch-off card And before the sun had set On this day Of death An Angel’s magic wand Put Love Gently Into seat 12J December 9 Just for me Just for Us We both say “yes” To this gift Leaving fear behind Carried by Supported by A sturdy basket Of experienced Life Loss Wisdom Optimism I am enjoying Relishing, really These new spring sprouts Washing me In gentle New Love I have decided To trust In what is here And now And today To trust myself And herself And our Angels If we just remember To listen And how shall I
Celebrate my new love Hold a refrain of gratitude and wonder Gifts from the angels With full awareness Of our diminishing Earth Amazement, Wonder, & Delight Fear, Sadness Grief How do I hold Both The hope and ecstasy Of new love And the Despair Of a dying planet In the same embrace? My arms trembling With hope & Love And loss And tears Tightly squeezing That which I cherish Wanting to hold this moment Forever Then turning love And grief and despair into creative action To protect All of those whom I love With my being I’m late for my next meeting
My kids have the flu My wife is pissed with me I have to make my sales quota I’m late on my house payment I don’t have time to care about another species Endangered or going extinct Yes, we’re all busy living our own lives AND - You are doing all this Because? You love your children You care about your family You hope for the best for your grandchildren It is Love that drives all this Busy-ness and responsibility taking What if the species dying Was your daughter? Your son? Your innocent baby grandson? What if the dying Was coming To your own body? Amputate a foot A hand A liver But it is Every species lost to Mother Earth Is a gash to every human body A cut in the web of life That holds us aloft Feeds us Water’s us Provides a liveable temperature range To live in And when the last Key Species Dies Sending the teeter-totter careening off it’s fulcrum Into the abyss Beyond human Control (An illusion of our hubris) Then what? Will you think back From your wheelchair To that one busy day And wish You had taken Even just one action To save one species That would save you As you watch the ecosystem Careen Off a course that is Inhabitable to those you Most care for ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) Threatened (fed) Threatened (OR) Nests and forages in OG and mature forests. coniferous and mixed conifer forests. This sub-species historically inhabited most forests throughout southwestern British Columbia, western Washington and Oregon, and northwestern California as far south as the San Francisco Bay. Current range is the same but populations have declined. Loss and adverse modification of habitat due to timber harvesting, land conversions, natural disturbances such as fire and windstorms. Competition from the barred owl, an invasive species, native to eastern North America. These have led to a decline of spotted owls throughout much of their historic range. Estimates suggest that the amount of suitable habitat available to spotted owls has been reduced by over 60 percent in the last 190 years. Owl numbers appear to have declined annually since 1985. Spotted owls are currently declining at an average rate of 3.8 % rangewide each year. (3) This charismatic sub-species evolved in large swaths of old growth forests. The northern spotted owl is a nocturnal "perch-and-pounce" predator that captures its prey (primarily small forest mammals) with its claws. Like most owl species, the spotted owl nests in the tops of trees or in cavities of naturally deformed or diseased trees. Spotted owls primarily mate for life and may live up to 20 years. |
AuthorJim Powers is a dreamer, optimist, inventor, writer & poet. Archives
September 2020
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