Poem for the Erth Thing

there once was a globe called the earth'
twas shiny green & totes blue from its birth
then along came the peoples
built highrises and steeples
and now everything's going all blergh

By Mark Hamilton

Something Else

I like...
multi functional,
multi purpose pieces.
I am... inspired by aprons, granola style, plaid and prints.
I want... something that will enhance my basic wardrobe.
I need... something that will fit me whether I'm a size 0 or a size 10.
I use... my creativity, my sewing machine, pretty remnants, old clothes, new threads
and I make... Something Else.

By Lan. T

Breathing and Moving Plants

gently, with the Cant of Kyrie
a sonance between plants and people
a soft syntax of scent
and the greenspeak pitch

the hum of crimson skin off ripe tomatoes
unplucked, giving red in my hands
I hope the sign of this scent
is not the pain of my pluck
but an answering sensuality
a movement of round ness in my palms.


like the lemon tree I stuff in the truck
the one that never grew yellow, pocked, lemons
but cast a lemon scent like a screaming child
grasping for its mother
the terror
of lemon, of being re moved.

like the Basil when I weeded around it;
the herb warned me not to.
casting whiff like a hard baseball
insisting that I catch
its thought.

like the carrot tops warning me off
their emerald copulation.

now I talk to my plants in lush tones
in the moments after
I inhale their verdance.

By Vivian Hansen

Don’t Happen No More – A Bit of Earth History

Well, there used to be a time when the sky was blue
When laying watching clouds was the thing to do.
That was the time when a cow only mooed
And you didn’t need to wear sun block 42.

Well, there used to be a time when the world was green
With forests and grass not money machines.
Used to be a time when the rivers flowed clean,
Now you have to know what parts-per-million means.

Don’t happen no more
Was a long time ago
What a pitiful shame
How the world has changed

There used to be a time when the land was your home
Some time back when the buffalo roamed
Used to walk for miles, the earth and you alone
Spending time where the wild things grow.

Don’t happen no more
Was a long time ago
What a pitiful shame
How the world has changed

W. Martin
[partially inspired by B. B. King’s Don’t Happen No More]

Preserve These Words

These words,

Combined

Reformed

Found forgotten

Rewarmed

Stagnant sentences

Dormant stanzas

Various torn discourses

Draining downwards

Like forlorn sediment

Left to rest

Rolling under the river bed

The raging representative

of forward pressing

time and culture

And surely You,

Oh Holy Breath

have preserved

these words

Roaring water

coursing vehement chariot

Churning over unobserved

Soft nuances

and charming inflections

Oh yes,

fast paced

centuries of progress

And yet,

the echo

the refrain

Tapping steady

Under a small stream’s babbling

Heard in the lapping of an eddy

A fallen leaf slaps me

And Wind runs laughing

And surely You,

Oh Holy Breath

have preserved

these words

This deep covered

This dirt smothered

This earth churned under

This learning to quiet my soul

So my spirit may perceive

May receive

This long unspoken

Sweet speech

that the world

Forcefully Forgot

And surely You,

Oh Holy Breath

have preserved

these words

A soft

unbreakable grip

Sheltering cleft

Constant current

Preserving & Refining

Drawing out the dross

Reworking

Breaking Elements

Pressing & Polishing

Shaping the Discard

Buffing that Shine

Held Waiting

(Breath In…Breath Out)

By Joel Pleasant

Our green, green world

on the streets of our souls there's only one house
that is left standing and quietly so, no one fears it's happening
for this house of so many is as fragile as it seems
the last alarms are echoed through all of the streets for

our green, green world, if we could turn ourselves around

take some solar power alternative from the creeping death of

underground.


come to the chasm that's opened at our feet
toss all our wishes to the bottom of the sea
on about sunset we will draw up from the well
drink to our fortunes plead ignorance from our hell

tar paper shacks and shanty towns, not forgotten

company stores.



give our heads a shake before it’s to late

now, where do we go to if our house is torn down
what is there to build with after we've burned it all down
oh this house of so many and none to see it cleaned
the last alarm is echoed through all of the street

a green, green world could be ours if we turn ourselves around

both poor and rich face the chore, our riches ain’t worth nothing

if there is no breathin, drinkin or thinkin, green



see it is falling from all that we've not done
our beds we're made to lie in, pull the covers over our heads
and come the sunset we will all hide away there toasting our

monsters pleading ignorance from our ways

quiet still brown skies, souls sold off for no paradise

and dreamers tossed to the sea this green, green world turning

seething, freezing for want of the little bits that we could fix by

seeing, what can be seen
come to the chasm that's open at our feet
toss all our wishes to the bottom of the sea
now where will we go to as the house is torn down
what have we to build with after it's all been burned downfor this house of so many is as fragile as it seems
the last alarm is sounding through all of the streets

our green, green world if we turn our sights around


By Dale A Herrington

Dale is a local poet & activist who can be seen recording
at almost every poetry reading around the city.

Also known as "Hippy Dale", he drives a multi colored Hippy
Bus and also works at the Drop In Center when he is not
writing poems, publishing books and Cd recordings from his
spoken word Podbeam.

Each Of Us Needs a Green Footprint

Our footprint we live in is brown, far larger than what we really need, and it smells bad, partly due to the non-renewable resources we use, and the hard-to-recycle residues we create.

Our footprint should be green, either a mixture of clear-sky blue and clean pure water blue mixed with sunshine yellow, or green plants for the healthy requirements of our bodies instead of "nutritional".

Our brown footprints have changed the intensity of the wildness of nature of the planet we live on.

Tornadoes and hurricanes strip away our buildings and leave destruction in their wake. Tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, droughts --- our footprints are making these weather and environment extremes worse.

Most of the "green" solutions proposed are suboptimizing --- designed mainly to obtain green money from us. Many solve tiny parts of problems, but leave the major footprint issues unsolved.

A major change in lifestyle is necessary. Stop denying that we are part of the problem. Make choices that encourage positive changes, and oppose pressures from lobby groups to stick to the damaging negative status quo. Make bamends by contributing to efforts to reverse the damage that has already been done.

Sure, nature can correct the damage done to the planet, but that will take millions of years and our absence. Accept that there is no planet or moon nearby that we can economically escape to after we totally damage Earth.

And it would take us several generations to travel to another habitable planet after we manage to find one, as well as considerable expensive resources to make the trip. And if we managed to relocate to another inhabitable planet, would we just proceed to destroy it in the same way that we are doing to this one?

The green footprint that we should be living within can still be achieved. We just have to learn what wise choices to decide on to help make it happen. And we have to help educate others about those choices, so that they can make the same decisions.

If you see an iceberg floating in the ocean, you only see 1/10th of it above water, with the rest invisible underwater. If you drag the iceberg on to land, you will see a huge mountain. Since it is mostly ice, the ice melts into water, it drains away, and the mountain disappears.

The waste created as a result of what you use or consume is also a huge mountain. Because of our efficient garbage pickup and disposal systems, what you see is much smaller than 1/10th of it, unless there is a garbage collection strike as in Toronto or Vancouver, or you see the barges filled with garbage that New York City ships away.
Unlike the ice in the iceberg, plastics and aluminum take thousands of years for Nature to recycle, yet we produce and discard these materials faster than that.

You do your part in recycling to reduce that visible part, but post-consumer recycling takes energy and resources, so that is still part of your mountain. If you look at your footprint, it is slightly smaller, but it is still brown, with a green border around it.

Why don't we see the rest of that mountain? Raw materials and energy are used by manufacturers and they create waste in addition to products. Packaging is added to protect the goods during shipment to stores. Advertising is added, which is thrown away. When you buy a product, the waste that corresponds to that product is added to your mountain.

Since we obtain much of our products from third world countries, part of our invisible mountain that is created there is visible to them and they must live and cope with it. We do not pay them enough for the products to pay for processing of that waste.

We must learn more about our footprint, and find ways to reduce it's size and turn it from brown to green.

During World War II, when goods were scarce and rationed, people were told to:

"Use it up, Wear it out, Make it Do, or Do Without."

If you remember this while you shop, it can be a good start in changing your footprint.

By Len.B