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.

Wringing our hands
In easy resignation
Convenience and profit
 
Wrapping their tiny
Corpses
In paper caskets
 
Soothing ourselves with, “yes
We Tried”
 
It’s only one in 10-100,000 going extinct this year.
Out of a statistically significant range
 
A shame
What was it called?
The Marbled Murrelet?
 
If we understood
As God is trying to tell us
That what lays
In those tiny coffins
Are the cells of our very own
Body
Diminishing the possibilities
Of all future generations
 
The knife we are plunging
Is an act of suicide
And genocide
Self loathing
At a scale
That makes our better Angels
Weep
 
Are we all are drinking the kool aid
Together?
 
Some appear to be putting their
Lives
On the line
To stop
The dozers
Trenchers
Steel
Diesel weapons of war
On nature
 
If I can only die once
It shall be for the sake
of
My Sacred Lover
The Living Earth

Every once in awhile I decide to take a look at what I value.  My technique, used over the years, is to start with a set of blank 3 x 5 cards and a pen.  I like, one per card, people or experiences that are important to me, or values that are important to me.  “Creativity”, “Being a good father”, “Being a good husband,” etc. Anything I can think of that I value is on a card.  “Travel”, “Financial well-being,”...You get the idea.

After I have filled a lot of cards I come back each day and sort the cards.  I force myself to prioritize these based on what’s important to me. To make this valuable to me I have to screen out everyone else’s wishes for me.  I have to ignore “You Should love xyz.” “You should care about xyz” etc. This is a private set of cards based on what you, as the beautiful person you are, would like, for yourself.  (Since you’re probably not an axe murderer your list is completely valid and appropriate.)

You have to be selfish with this list.  You have to be honest. It can be difficult.  I often ask myself if this is my wish for myself or someone else's wish for me.  It is hard to choose one great value or goal over another. But that’s the assignment.  “If I could have this or this which would I choose?”

After you sort the list daily for a week you’ll discover that the same cards keep coming to the top.  This is what you value.

If you find that your life is not being lived in a way that you are living these values, it is time to begin making changes.

I find that for me, I am only truly happy, when my life aligns with my list of values.  If I find myself depressed or dissatisfied with life and I do the values cards, I can discover what’s out of alignment.

Now, I’d like to jump to a related subject.  Our (human) destruction of the natural world

As a parent, and now grandparent.  My cards include having a relationship with my children and grandchildren.  Also, I want them a planet, as full of possibilities as the one I grew up in.  I want them to have wonderful, fulfilling,lives.

I could not want for my loved ones:

• A flood that washes away their home?
• A terrible firestorm, threatening their homes and/or lives?
• A title wave overwhelming their lives?
• Asthma for them or their children?
• Extreme weather - rainfall, drought, wind, flood.
• Floods (hundreds of millions) of climate refugees fleeing to safety.

Sorry to bum you out.  But this is where we’re headed according to all of the scientific evidence and the current lack of action by the world community to stop fossil fuel carbon emissions.

I know you’ve heard this so many times that you are numb to it by now.  We, humans, must start reducing carbon emissions by 7.6% this and every year for the next decade if we want to avoid catastrophic climate chaos and other layers of environmental degradation that will leave our children, grandchildren and all future generations with a far poorer world to live in.

We each must muster our energy to find ways to influence our governments, around the world, to legislate for a carbon free fuel planet by 2050.  This is going to be a heavy lift. And we have to do it for the people we care most about.