Suggestions

 

From Graham – a close friend to Roger

It’s only from space the full extent of Earth’s environmental damage can be observed. Deforestation, receding glaciers, coastal inundation and the advance of deserts. From the flattened horizon of a human perspective, few witness the blanching of a coral reef or a river choked with plastic. The devastation remains somehow abstract… deniable.

It’s difficult to deny global weather patterns are becoming more anomalous and extreme. Or refute data that tells of rising average temperatures and collapsing biodiversity.

Venus, our nearest planet, suffered the fate of runaway atmospheric heating about 1 billion years ago when she still had surface temperatures akin to earth. This calamitous build-up of greenhouse gasses created a roiling inferno. A tormented celestial augur perhaps, foreshadowing the fate of her sister planet?

Just as our Earth’s marring is only framed in the bigger picture, the solution too, must be holistic. Political elites must be pressured to think pro-action over procrastination. Corporations must prioritise preservation over profit. And even wealthy religious organisations might be encouraged to save the planet rather than souls? They could even get real and recognise that their impending Judgment Day-cum-Apocalypse will likely be man-made rather than deity-designed. Surely this is the true existential crisis and moral imperative for all to confront…?

The onus is also on individuals to be the change through the choices they make. Small personal sacrifices for the greater good of our, and future generations. The cumulative benefits of driving a vehicle less, eating less (or no) meat and dairy, and conscientious consumerism should not be underestimated. The individual is not powerless to affect change by boycotting businesses that despoil natural habitat or cruelly exploit our fellow animals. Or to see beyond that acquisitional mindset fuelled by sly advertising.

Oh, but of course, there’ll always be climate change deniers - last seen at a Flat Earth Society meeting alongside creationist preachers and conversion therapists…

Roger loved this sun-kissed cradle of life we call Earth, Gaia, Terre... ‘Earth Mother’ features widely in his nature poems and was his foremost muse. He was captivated by her kaleidoscopic raiment in the ebb and flow of seasons. He took practical steps to conserve our precious planet too. He was ostensibly vegan and passionate about recycling – to the extent of policing rubbish bins where he lived. He’d leave curt notes in communal areas for offending parties who dumped non-recylcables in the green bin. And, believe me, Roger knew how to lambast even the most shameless slattern or slob!

When Rog was more mobile we enjoyed many a stroll on Hampstead Heath; communing with mother nature, imbibing ambrosial scents of wild, iridescent flora and savouring heavenly birdsong. Sometimes (pre-vegan days) we’d enjoy an ice cream and trace meandering lakeside tracks among coruscating sunbeams. We’d invariably climb Parliament Hill and gaze down on London’s sprawling cityscape then dive into a cosy pub. The Heath was Roger’s sanctuary and connection to his beloved Earth Mother.

This next poem of Roger’s appears in Accomplices To Illusion, 2007. I find it provocative.

‘The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.’ David Attenborough

‘Anyone who believes in indefinite growth on a physically finite planet is either mad or an economist’ David Attenborough

 

*  *  *

 

SUGGESTIONS

 

They suggest we try and save garden creatures
and ocean whales before it’s too late

They suggest our luxury choices are sure to leave
the generation of 3000 with none

They suggest parents are scared of their children
and raising monsters

They suggest religious leaders pay more attention
to compassion than division

They suggest politicians aren’t listening to those
who put them there

They suggest our multicultural societies are failing
themselves and each other

They suggest we start learning the lessons wars
should have taught us

They suggest we’re but living will and testament
of a dying planet

So who are they, daring to suggest humankind look
to its shortcomings?

Among leafy choirs, anxious waves, nature rehearses
this world’s passing

 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2008
[Note: Revised (2008) from the original poem as it appears in Accomplices To Illusion, 2007.]

Hello again, folks, from London UK

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we mast never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King

“Always remember that you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” – A. A. Milne

“If you are pining for youth I think it produces a stereotypical old man because you only live in memory, you live in a place that doesn’t exist. Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.” David Bowie

Hello again, folks, from London UK

No poem today, sorry. I am working hard on the final part of my poetry trilogy, but the heat is getting me down and there is still more of it in my mind than on paper. As regular readers know, years of hormone therapy (only) for my prostate cancer have really messed with my thought processes. Even so, we golden oldie poets are stronger and more determined than we look, so I press on. I am taking a break from Misnomer (3) while we are having to endure a heatwave here in the UK, but hope to finish and post it sometime next week.

The heat makes me feel dead beat. but writing poetry and doing word puzzles help even a gay poet to think straight. 😁  

Reader G J has emailed to complain that “You are very selective with your quotes, always choosing those that support your own views. Besides, some of the people you quote are obscure and unheard of…!” He or she also asks, “Do you realise that you often repeat the same quotes on other posts?” 

Yes, I am selective about the quotes I choose to post, not to support my own views, but (a) to provide the reader with an entry to the poem and (b) to avoid giving the impression that I am simply imposing my own views. As for obscurity, there is an entry for everyone I quote on Wikipedia if anyone cares to look, as I hope they will; yes, the authors may be obscure to some readers, but are well worth looking into, but this is a poetry blog and there simply isn’t room for me to expand.

As for repetition. I learned at an early age that if something is worth saying, it is invariably worth repeating; that’s how memorable quotes become… well, memorable. 😉

I hope some of you will find time to explore the blog archives now and then, although I suspect a heatwave is probably not the best encouragement...

In the course of global warming, I imagine many if not most of us will be having to deal with unseasonal heat and its consequences in the foreseeable future. I can but wish you all to keep well, stay safe and continue (as I do, albeit a struggle sometimes) to nurture a positive thinking mindset, whatever… No, never easy, but there is a lot to be said for the old saying ‘Hope springs eternal’… especially when the going gets tough.

In my experience, too, the spirit of kindness never fails to make itself felt and give hope a timely and very welcome boost

Take care, stay safe and keep well,

Hugs,

Roger

Enough is Enough

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Why is it, I wonder, that many world leaders are only just waking up to the threat of climate change and facing up to their responsibilities, at least as far as gathering material for speeches intended to impress the electorate is concerned; sadly, much of that same electorate remains under the illusion that global warming is some kind of capitalist conspiracy propagated by those most likely to gain from it.

 If it is a rule of thumb never to underestimate one’s adversary, never was it more of a truism than in the context of humankind v nature; in the longer term, at least, and – let’s face it – as far as our time here on Earth is concerned, it’s the longer term that really matters. 

How can those of us who so love to engage with the natural world excuse years of  failing to speak up in its defence... albeit, until now, any protests have fallen on deaf ears and/or justify such in the name of 'progress' or (worse) leisure interests? Yes, that's human nature and better to progress than regress...but  we can hardly expect nature to keep paying the price it is expected to pay without making any protest.  

There comes a time when, for any of us, enough is enough; for Earth Mother, I suspect that time is now;  humankind needs must to make reparation before it is too late.... if it is not too late already. Hope, though, springs eternal and they do say "Better late than never." 😉

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Oh, world of love and beauty,
nature’s glory all around;
sadly, a devil’s cruelty in Man’s
own story found

Oh, world, such creatures in it
of every shape and colour;
Man, bent on killing off the planet
for an easy dollar

Oh, Eden, long since abandoned,
History repeating its mistakes;
lion kings in eco-zoos, mercenaries
raising the stakes

Oh, world, defying an ozone crack,
beware! Nature’s fighting back...

Earth Mother, inclined to cut up rough,
"Enough is enough...!"

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; rev. 2021

[Note: This poem has been slightly but significantly revised since it first appeared under the title 'Global Warning' in an anthology – A Celebration of Verse, Anchor Books, 2001 - and subsequently in my collection, First Person Plural, Assembly Books, 2001.]

 

Nature Study

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Today’s poem has been slightly but significantly revised from the original version that appears in my collection, Love and Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2001

Now, a reader writes in to sat yesterday’s poem was “... a typical over-reaction to the amount of media attention given to fluke weather conditions this year...”

I usually respect intelligent points of view that conflict with my own, but this is hardly an intelligent response to a global crisis... well, is it?

NATURE STUDY

Brightness, falling from the sky
like summer rain, makes the flowers grow,
and the world shine
like rainbow trout on a school kid’s line
at a local stream,
who should be playing in a football team,
but his dad beat him
black and blue, with ma laid out
on the kitchen floor, and he’s not ready yet
to even take a shower

Brightness, falling from the sky
like acid rain, making the trees cry, as leaves
die like fishes everywhere
and other species, carefully laid out
under glass for science
and future generations to reason,
(or agree to differ)
how killing off a species smacks of depravation,
but biology, that’s education

Shadows, much like corpses
on the ground where skylarks once flew,
now a forgotten sound
at a spot where revelations in the clay
suggest a once-busy stream
in a world that aspired to give progress
a good run for its money,
no hint of humanity neatly laid out
under corporate glass for its endangered species
to argue rhetoric and excuses

High time humankind held Progress to its word,
encouraging a kinder, safer world...?...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001; rev. 2021

Classroom Politics OR Extinction Rebellion, Getting Real

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

OVERHEARD in a local Supermarket: 

MAN: “Don’t talk to me about climate change. If you ask me, it’s a load of rubbish. Youngsters, today, huh! Never happy unless that can find something to whinge about. Take this Extinction Rebellion lot, a bunch of troublemakers if you ask me...” 

WOMAN: “I’m not so sure. I mean, well, what do any of us actually know about what’s causing such high temperatures in Greece, wildfires in Australia, worsening weather conditions all over...?” 

MAN: “Oh, well, the planet’s here to stay for a good while yet, so time enough to worry when and if the time comes, that’s what I say...”

When and if the time comes...? Better to be safe than sorry, surely? The sooner we all start doing our bit to save the planet, the better its chances of survival... and ours. That’s what yours truly says, thinks, and tries to practise what I preach as best I can...

The poem below was written over twenty years ago, and my inner ear told me even then that young people were already beginning to express various Green and Climate concerns. They are much older, now ,of course, ad it is good to see the next generation actively expressing much the same concerns...

CLASSROM POLITICS or EXTINCTION REBELLION, GETTING REAL

Murmurs in the classroom
smack of revolution

Stuck in front of a television,
well able to tell fact from fiction,
the problem being,
where on earth to draw the line
between what we love
to watch over endless cups of tea
while and rejecting
whatever it may be giving us cause
to suspect our sense of pleasure more than
a shade unhealthy

Murmurs in the classroom
smack of revolution

Made to sit back and watch
our home planet being set upon;
little if any regard for nature
whose best interests are ill-served
by those of Big Business
despite any public relations exercise
performed by Fat Cats
keen to exploit media attention,
all the better to disguise a hidden agenda
of mass destruction

Murmurs in the classroom
smack of revolution 

Copyright R N. Taber 2001; rev. 2021

[Note: This poem was first  published in my collection, Love and Human Remains, Assembly Books, 2001; it has recently been slightly but significantly revised, August, 2021.]

 

L-I-F-E, Mixed Messages OR Any Human Heart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Today's poem first appeared on the blogs in 2012 under the title, 'Any Human Heart'.

Now, we do not ask to be born. We are born, literally, at our parent’s pleasure.  I don’t subscribe to the view that we owe our parents anything. Where there is love between parent and child, it will reap its own rewards.  Where there is no love between parent and child, the child has absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.

Regular readers will know that I support euthanasia in certain circumstances; not, though, when a person is depressed and unable to think clearly. I tried to commit suicide many years ago in the course of a severe nervous breakdown. I am so glad I failed. At the moment, we are still in the thick of a pandemic, and I know some people are feeling desperate; my advice, for what it's worth, is hang on in there because life will get better for all of us if only eventually rather than improving the quality of our Here-and-Now as and when we would dearly prefer.

Yes, there are times we may regret being born, especially when an ever growing disparity between the world into which we would like to live and the one we are stuck with sends us hurtling into a downward spiral of despair; thankfully, the human spirit is better than that although it, too, will have its bad days nor (for good or ill) is it immune to temptation.

The workings of the human mind and spirit are complex, all the more so for the contradictory nature and sheer persistence of the human heart is search of something ... better, kinder, whatever.

Hopefully, humanity can learn from the graver mistakes made in its history rather than thinking it can rewrite it or, worse, block it out and inadvertently go on to repeat the same mistakes ...

This poem is a kenning.

L-I-F-E, MIXED MESSAGES or ANY HUMAN HEART

Running the gamut of life

and love has only brought me pain

like some fine autumn leaf

turning gold (once green) battered

by October winds and rain,

souvenir of a spring badly let down

by an unkind summer yet again,

no silvery light able to make good

Apollo’s absences

Striving for meaning in life

and love has only left me as confused

as nature by global warming

causing bird and beast to change

habit and habitat

(little if anything the better for that)

while humanity chews fat

over a thinning polar ice, dying trees

and sickly skies

Seeking to move on in life

and love has only made me realise

I kicked off as a child

from lies in a poem read aloud in class

about a God in His Heaven

so all’s right with a world struggling

to feed its children,

as if any religion could ever make good

poverty or starvation

I am that heart whose first beats at birth

are welcomed by a kinder Earth

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012, 2020

To Apollo, Over

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

[Update. March 19th 2020]: The coronavirus, COVID 19, is spreading worldwide and various Governments feel obliged to take various emergency measures; it all smacks of Big Brother to me although needs must we act responsibly and conform to a whole new socio-cultural-political mind-set. Whatever, let's stay calm folks, use our common sense, trust our basic survival instincts and we will get though what appears to be the worst global crisis since the second world war. Remember that thousands of people die of flu every year; while this corona virus appears to be far more serious than an outbreak of influenza, we all need to stay positive and help each other as best we can. The sick  and elderly, are as always, the most vulnerable among us so we especially need to rally on their behalf, even if it means getting to know neighbours who are all but strangers. Me? I will be 75 later this year and have been living with prostate cancer since 2011. I live alone, but will stay in touch with friends by phone if mobility becomes severely restricted by any temporary legislation. Meanwhile, I continue to take each day as it comes, and hope for the best ...]

Meanwhile ...

Old gods, new ways, first dawn, last sunset…world ending with a bang or a whimper, I wonder?

Nature may well hold most if not all the answers, but wears them close to its heart, and who can blame it given humankind’s compulsion for getting its own way no matter who gets hurt or what damage done in the process…?

Nature, of course, will endure long after humanity has failed to learn from its worst mistakes; one of these being underestimating climate change for which we, of course, are (all) ultimately responsible.

As for humankind, we can but trust those faceless mandarins stalking the corridors of power across the world may yet be named and shamed, replaced by those whose feeling for humanity and humankind’s obsession with pastures new is not above demonstrating some old-fashioned common sense.

TO APOLLO, OVER 

Broken statues in the dust,
marking many a historic dawn,
shooting long shadows 

Far, far, these shadows fly
across our much-damaged land
like many arrows 

Into a poor scholar’s dugout
an arrow makes its presence felt
at Apollo’s early rising 

Red sun shining on our dust,
revealing broken statues weeping
and bleeding for us

 Copyright R. N. Taber 1999; 2020

 [Note: This poem has been slightly revised from an earlier version that first appeared in the poetry magazine Meridian (1999) and subsequently in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001]

 

Getting it Together, a Moral Tale OR Upside Down, Come Right Side Up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

As regular readers know, I was in the proverbial closet for many years, when attitudes towards LGBT people were largely ignorant, bigoted and intolerant to say the least. Eventually, I overcame all that, and told the world I'm gay; if the world didn't like it...too bad.

We have pro-LGBT legislation here in the UK, but homophobia remains as alive and kicking as ever; nor is being bisexual or transgender much easier than it has ever been if only because you cannot legislate for human nature. Having a go at others because they are 'different' seems to be something of a blood sport for some people; one of many reasons I steer well clear of social media. I am not afraid of trolls, but have better things to do than even have to think about them.

I have always posted the occasional gay-interest poem on both blogs, and my having done so with several poems lately seems to have gone down well with those readers who - for whatever reason - only ever access one or the other; this poem, too will appear on both blogs.

I guess we all need to get it together from time to time, and make decisions that will have a huge impact on our own lives as well as the lives of others. Sitting on the proverbial fence never got anyone anywhere fast.

GETTING IT TOGETHER, A MORAL TALE or UPSIDE DOWN, COME RIGHT SIDE UP

Once, an Ordinary Joe
was in pieces, in a so-frantic town,
wanting to look a world
in the eye that was upside down
try hard as O J might,
a growing self-consciousness
refused to put things right

Upside down worlds
make a mountain of everyday life,
its anti-heroes ever struggling
with the consequences of daily strife
reinforcing divisions,
disputing multiple points of view
on its politics and religions

Upside down mountains
offer no more than a distorted view
of some hellish landscape;
no beauty here, not so much as a clue
as to the intentions
of Earth Mother, last seen weeping
multiple carbon emissions

Woke up one morning
to a lark' song celebrating its freedom
of the skies, even with pit folk
so often assumed deaf, blind and dumb
to a right-side-up world
letting the worst of human nature
all but have the last word

Now, a new lease of life
for Earth Mother's messaging humanity;
ignored by the local bully
packing a knife, enjoying a notoriety
egging him on to stab someone,
only to end up on the receiving end
in some hellish prison

Better, by far than that, am I,
as human as any in the cold light of a day
that would deny me taking pride
in embracing a 'me' that's openly gay
as friend, mentor, lover...
in a world that's finally come right-side-up
for my getting it together


Copyright R. N. Taber 2019

Lines on last-ditch Damage Limitation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Better late than never, humankind appears to be finally waking up to its responsibility to preserve as much of the natural world as it can, given the damage already inflicted upon it in the name of progress.

Let us not kid ourselves, though. Time, always determined to go its own way regardless, is not on our side. If we want to save the planet and all manner of species that have known no other habitat, we all need to pull together now;   each and every one of us doing our bit to save energy, lower carbon emissions drastically if not entirely, think Green instead of relying on others to do so, thereby easing conscience and any sense of responsibility (providing we concede either) … and, yes, we might just save a world worth living in for future generations.

Our young people and their descendants deserve better than the kind of apathy so many people in the Here-and-Now continue to exhibit towards such issues as conservation, regeneration, improving air quality and cleaning up our rivers, seas and oceans - to name just a few. As I see it, quality of life is more important than life for its own sake, and if we don’t all start showing the natural world greater respect now, future generations will be seeing red, not green, and blaming twenty-first century apathy, greed, and an egocentricity beyond belief.

I had a conversation along these lines with someone in a shop recently while queuing to be served. This person took the view that “at least old people like yourself have no cause to worry about what might happen. Even if the worst comes to the worst, you’ll be long gone.”

But I do worry, and so should we all, regardless of who we are or where in the world we live or there may well come a time when it will be too late to worry about what might happen because it already has …

LINES ON LAST-DITCH DAMAGE LIMITATION

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it takes but a butterfly caught in a ray

of sunshine to remind us that Earth Mother

is on our side, each and every minute

of each and every day, ready to give us

a hug when we need it most, remind us life

may be but a fleeting thing yet beautiful

and all the more precious and worth savouring

every moment for that

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it takes but the laughter of a child

running to its mother across home ruins

war, terror or an angry Earth Mother

may well have tried to get across a message

invariably ignored by forces intent only

on making themselves heard above any calls

for peace, love, reconciliation, agreeing to differ

in a so-divided world

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it is good to wake to a dawn chorus,

provided by its birds among trees acting

as Guardians of the Earth since birth

if poorly served in return by we saboteurs

of the natural world so accustomed

to putting our needs first that we forgot

humankind needs see to co-existing responsibly

with nature or pay dearly

Listen. Hear (all) species of land, sea, and sky

demanding we live and let live … or (all) die

Copyright R. N. Taber 2019

A Meeting of Minds at the Last Chance Saloon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

One of my favourite subjects at school some 50+ years ago was History, not least because we had a teacher who made history come alive in in the mind’s eye. I well recall Mr Vickers - fondly known as ‘Chopper’ by generations of schoolkids - telling the class to bear in mind that History hates to lose face. He went to comment along the lines that, just as many if not most of us are inclined to be less than honest when reflecting on home truths, so it is with history. Consequently, he added with a characteristic chuckle, history is paved with excuses. 

I have since come to understand how it is invariably in the light of these excuses that events are recorded, re-recorded and often ‘adapted’ to reconcile with contemporary opinion according to this or that point of view.  

Fortunately, I also had an excellent English teacher at the same school [ 'Jock' Rankin] who taught us how to identify elements of bias in both factual and fictional writings as well as various media presentations. There is nothing wrong with bias, he would say, so long as we recognise it as such and make up our own minds.

On the whole, I hated my schooldays, but looking back I see now how, as an Education for Life, they excelled. Even so...50+ years ago, and what's really changed?  Well, not human nature, for a start...

A MEETING OF MINDS AT THE LAST CHANCE SALOON

Should global warming kill us all,
even Earth Mother may not survive
but as one among stars poised fall;
among its remains, nothing left alive

They say humankind fails to consider
that nature might turn and retaliate
for killing off trees, failing to nurture
respect for bird or beast until too late

We hear much talk of saving habitats,
ending world poverty, famine, wars,
as the poor grow poorer to feed fat cats,
old gods and new, settling old scores

Oh, but there’s politics, sure to save us  
from worms haunting its mass graves,
last-ditch rhetoric for wannabe saviours
still burning its oil in midnight's caves

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2016

Past-Present-Future, a Collective Responsibility

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

A reader asks why I often write past-present-future as one word rather than separating past, present and future.  The interconnection is so great that I see them as a whole; just as time is a continuum so all we say and do at any one time will like as not affect and reflect not only ourselves, but others too - one way or another, to a greater or lesser extent, but significantly all the same  (whether we or they choose to  acknowledge it or not) in any near or distant moment in time.

As for the world in which we human beings persistently express a penchant for destruction and division ... is it not high time we focused more on pulling together, accepting and respecting each other's differences instead of playing socio-cultural religious-political football with them?

Any tears in the ozone layer will not mend themselves unless we all become more pollution conscious and stop arguing among ourselves long enough to take an honest look as how we are inflicting all but irretrievable damage to the planet.

Those leading politicians, with fingers in various Big Business pies, may well choose to play down the long-term effects of polluting the planet, but need to cut the rhetoric and act NOW or risk plunging future generations into an Armageddon scenario…

PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE, A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY 

In the rain, an acid rain, you’re there

sharing the burden of my despair

Let the world roll out its history

consigning us to memory,

clouds forbid the sun, heavens weep;

in my dark, your light I’ll keep,

till this mere flesh no more can stand

and Death lends us a hand

as through a graveyard in a gentle rain

we ghosts will walk and talk again

In the rain, an acid rain, you’re there,

sharing the burden of my despair

Though our world blast into infinity,

consigning us to the galaxy,

yet seedlings shall survive, endure

in Mother Nature's loving care

till songbirds, in time, return

to the killing fields of Everyman,

redeem a so-sorry history of acid rain

till humankind ghost us yet again

In the rain, an acid rain, we’re here

sharing the burden of all despair

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2014

  

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title ‘Easing the Burden’ in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]

Classroom Consensus OR Planet Earth, Deserving Better

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Many thank to those of you who have emailed to wish me a speedy recovery following my recent accident. I am still housebound and cannot put any weight on my left foot so hopping around my flat on a Zimmer frame! The nights are not good. But I am coping better during the day with help from friends when they are free. Hopefully I will be well on the way to a full recovery in a few weeks, and I keep telling myself that. I must be patient. Old(er) bones take longer to heal. It has made me realize how difficult life is for people living alone who are incapacitated in one way or another. We take so much for granted, even simple things like making a cup of tea.

Meanwhile…

Education starts and remains ongoing in the home. School and university are just part of a larger picture. Put a foot wrong, and that larger picture becomes a smudgy mess.

So where are we going wrong? Maybe parents and teachers and just about everyone else in the adult world needs to start listening more to what up and coming generations have to say about the kind of life and world they want to grow up in? If the world doesn't act on climate change now, its children's children are likely to pay a heavy price if not the ultimate.

Oh, and what has sexuality to do with anything outside of personal space? (Ask any LGBT person, any age.)

This poem is a villanelle.

CLASSROOM CONSENSUS or PLANET EARTH, DESERVING BETTER

Find nature at war with us
again, and yet again;
high time we made peace

We’re to blame (who else?)
for creating acid rain;
find nature at war with us

Save all species, keep trees,
(room enough for grain);
high time we made peace

We seize woods for houses
(a growing population);
find nature at war with us

Climate, ignoring all nature's
tears and cries of pain;
high time we made peace

Politicians into green issues, 
(on Vote-for-Me Lane);
find nature at war with us,
high time we made peace

Copyright R. N. Taber 2008

Earmarked for Development

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Several readers have asked when I intend to record more of my poems for You Tube. Well, soon I hope. However, Graham, my close friend and cameraman works full-time so is not often available and I have been unable to get anyone else interested.

For those of you who may be interested but haven’t yet seen and heard my capers on You Tube,

try: http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber  or keyword ‘Roger Taber You Tube’

We only do it for fun (and that includes heading straight for the nearest pub afterwards) but hopefully people will enjoy our efforts. I will be posting more on You Tube throughout the year, weather and cameraman availability permitting.

Meanwhile...

The world's growing population requires that we provide for its housing and other needs. We should not forget, though, that nature provides not only for its own protection but ours too. Our taking from nature without giving back is already making itself menacingly felt in various ways, and will likely haunt future generations with even greater menace. Deforestation especially, leaves us all exposed to climate change,

EARMARKED FOR DEVELOPMENT 

Archived, children at play

where once were trees and grass;

echoes of sunny laughter
but splinters of broken glass

Carefree voices, last heard
drifting away like autumn leaves;
carbuncles springing up
where Earth Mother grieves

Manna for the developers,

demand ever outstripping supply;

grass all concreted over,
(a time to live, a time to die?)

Nobody left likely to recall
how things were once-upon-a-tree
come nature, fairy tale...
Carbuncles, the new poetry

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2016

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004; rev. ed. in e-format in preparation.]

Weeping Ozone, Sleepwalking World

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

[Update July 29th 2019: The world s beginning to wake up to the threat of climate change. Better late than never, although some pf its major players (like US President Donald Trump, to name just one continue to insist it is fake news. Let's all hope it is not too late for future generations.] RT

It is GOOD that (at last!) the world is starting to take climate change seriously, and accepting some responsibility for it. Even so, I can’t help thinking it is too little too late…especially as humankind is, on the whole, inclined to put its immediate needs first; immediate, but often (well) above and beyond the basics. Food, shelter and affordable housing are constantly put at risk by corporate greed funded by the wealthy intent upon getting wealthier and supported by the kind of back-door politics at which so many politicians excel.

There are, of course, a lot of good people out there if outnumbered by the bad. (The expression, 'the smile on the face of a tiger' springs to mind…)

It will be down to future generations to make the best (or worst, as the case may be) of the mess we have made and  continue to make of our planet with whatever resources available and, hopefully, a generous dose of sound common sense.

Whatever happened to priorities? It is bad enough that many people continue to bury their heads in the sand and pretend global warming is a fiction. How a significant number of those same people can continue to rage against gay relationships, for example, while playing down if not ignoring what has to be one of the greatest threats to the human race we will ever face is beyond my comprehension.

WEEPING OZONE, SLEEPWALKING WORLD

Terror in the sky, likely to bring
about the destruction of our planet;
rivers run dry, poisoned plants,
beasts of the wild starved of a will
to live, birds of the air unable
to take wing, too weak to sing even;
fishes in the sea, last to survive
nature’s very own Armageddon,
no end of tears in the ozone

Fear enough to melt glaciers,
seed mountains, valleys, urban oases
of wishful thinking among
fortune hunters quick to seize the day,
make a killing for profit (or kicks)
in human as well as animal trade-offs,
heart sleeves of the best cloth,
faux promises dead in the water,
potential eulogy for humanity

Panic in forests stripped of trees
meant to protect us in mean streets,
 androids forced to their knees
by silicon gods competing to be first
to clone eternity, any semblance
of morality but a vainglorious sterility
glossing over forsworn obligations
to generations left rummaging nature
for crumbs of survival

To the earth, a relentless rush of pain
its peoples shrug off as acid rain

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014; 2018

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in The Third Eye: poems by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004 under the title 'Under Threat'; rev title 2018.]

Shades of Mythology at the Cliffs of Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Let us hope history will not judge the entire 21st century by its poor beginnings, certain world societies and socio-cultural-religious groups within them paying lip service to the basic human principles of mutual respect and understanding.

Yes, there are many good things going on and good people making them happen, but from where I am writing this sorry world of ours has not made a good start to the new millennium and badly needs to get its act together.

Can it be that leaders from all walks of life need to give less thought to their own egos and more to the ordinary man, woman, and child in the street to whom, invariably, relatively few can even begin to relate?  It may well be the way life is and history is made, but that does not make it right or mean things cannot be done differently, hopefully for the better, before it is too late and irreparable damage done to planet and  human condition alike.

Maybe, one day…

Meanwhile, humankind keeps busy creating  new mythologies that distant future generations will probably gloss over as metaphor - for what, exactly? 

SHADES OF MYTHOLOGY AT THE CLIFFS OF TIME

Dark angels attacking from the sea,

only to hover defiantly between a misty

earth and sky, like bats put in cages,

choice specimens to admire, touch even,

without fear (or real appreciation);

we are safe enough since they can’t fly

in our faces like the world’s vices,

invite us to turn a blind eye or join in

the euphoria, excusing themselves

(and us) with fine rhetoric, no matter

we prefer to look eyes closed, innocents

playing fast asleep

Now, all quiet. Now, a rush of wings

depriving even the inner eye of light along

with harsher cries at ears listening out

for warning sounds, hints at reassurance

(of course, what else?) urging we visit

nether regions of the spirit, view dark angels

with awe if only for drawing our attention

to some patched-up failings in personal space

where we can but watch warily, afraid,

long since repressed by adopted criteria

for a ‘civilized’ life brooking little empathy

with its conscience

Marked for having made bad choices,

(like flying with bats, safety in numbers?)

in a frantic rhythm blithely imposed

by Earth Mother, composed by artists

inspired by passion’s adventurers,

content to leave all sense and sensibility  

to its own accountability and Apollo’s 

predilection for shadow play among rocks

and hard places of a maturity eroded

by time, forever vying with Omnipresence

for a place in history, human nature sticking

to its guns

New mythologies, last spotted breaking

into old Poseidon’s lair;

twenty-first century in denial,
affecting to get real about climate change

even in the face of pleas
from Earth Mother; icecaps, glaciers,
all creatures great and small
carrying the can for its complacency
beyond belief in turning
a blind eye to happenings in a world
where it makes itself a priority second
to none,

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2013

[Note: An earlier version of this poem under the title 'No Strategy for Surrender' appears in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]

Where Did all the Baby Otters Go ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

We take nature too much for granted. If we are not careful, by the time we wake up to the beauty of a natural world on our doorsteps, its beauty may well be but a distant memory for any survivors of a dying planet.

Although hunted less than in the past because their fur isn’t the money maker it used to be, pollution and global warming remain huge threats to otters... as it does to all of us.

WHERE DID ALL THE BABY OTTERS GO?

Once, a stream that ran down a mountain,

through this gutted forest, that daisy field,

joined sewage spilling without correction

over banks where once baby otters played

Humankind, it challenged the mountain,

would feed also at Earth Mother's breast,

but the life-giving milk turned to poison

till only the mountain survived all the rest

The snows of the mountain slowly melted,

flooding forests, fields, humankind. beast;

Everyman, eventually, compelled to admit

its share of the blame, neither all nor least

Copyright R N Taber 2005, 2019

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005]

Requiem For A Skylark/ Nature Trail (Two short poems)

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Enjoying nature has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures. Here in the UK, as elsewhere in the world, it is down to each and every one of us to save as many of its green and pleasant places and wildlife habitats as possible for future generations...or they will not easily forgive us, if ever.

REQUIEM FOR A SKYLARK

On tuneful wing, our seasons

scanning, circles and dips

anxiously a covenant

with Earth's poetry, where

once a nesting tree

grew tall

Now, a shopping

mall

 NATURE TRAIL

Follow leafy trails

into red and orange,

silver, green;

let the dew of life

wash clean our

dirty hands;

be still, antic winds

till nothing's heard

but an egg-bird;

a tear in the eye,

all our yesterdays

on standby

[From: First Person Plural by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2002]

Poor Sparrow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

While this overcrowded island of ours badly needs more (affordable) housing, we must protect what remains of our green and pleasant land. So many birds are losing their natural habitats. This is not only bad news for the, but bad news for us too.

Let’s all speak up to save our trees and woodlands, and make sure there are always green fields nearby for everyone to enjoy, especially our children, and wildlife too… 

POOR SPARROW

Once a village, quickly became a town;

green fields now a housing estate

where we lowered poor sparrow down

In lanes we’d watch the harvest sown,

now highways, commuters running late;

once a village, quickly became a town

Of daisies a tree nymph’s spring gown

within creak, squeak, of a trellis gate

where we lowered poor sparrow down

More peace and quiet than ever known,

though small politics its fishwives berate;

once a village, quickly became a town

Office blocks where kites once flown,

nature’s finest gone for cheapskate

where we lowered poor sparrow down

Long years past, we children grown,

memories like sunlight on wet roof slate;

once a village, quickly became a town

where we lowered poor sparrow down

[From: Accomplices To Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]

Who Speaks Up for the Trees?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

A reader has been in touch to say she would never travel on the London Underground again following the tragic events of July 7th 2005 in which she lost a close friend. Similarly, she would never visit the USA because ‘... it has to be a high profile target for terrorists.’

While I can understand and sympathise with how she feels, terrorists can strike anywhere at any time. We can but remain hopeful that we will leave our homes for work or whatever and return safely. Besides, if we give in to our fear of terrorists and their misguided belief that they are entitled, for whatever reason, to force their views on others by means that confirm the existence of evil in the world… they have won.

Dare I suggest that Earth Mother, too, should be on her guard against those set n destroying the environment? There is an eco terrorism that I suspect is as great a threat to us all as its human counterpart, if not more so in the longer term. (I have always had the mind-body-spirit of an eco-warrior if not the bare-faced nerve to put my eco-convictions to the test - yet.)

WHO SPEAKS UP FOR THE TREES?

We are two so-splendid trees
standing tall at the edge
of a wood, conspiring with song
and laughter, symphony
and poetry made to run the gamut
of a blessed serendipity

All loves, hates, jealousies,
in shades of evergreen
on the finest canvas ever seen 

only to be redefined
by all humankind along along lines
of well-meaning insanity

Would-be giants, sentinels
of a civilization
protective of its own, pawns
in a civilization feeding
on ages of rewriting human history
and its blood stained pages

Inciting song and laughter,
music and poetry,
humanity acknowledging a duty 

to save our woodlands
for generations while selling off trees

to property developers

Who looks down at twin logs
and sees us as we were
or hears leafy winds whispering
names of any cut down

in their prime here, there, everywhere,

no matter the time of year?

Oh, but the world may yet rue
its short sightedness
in scarring nature's face (or worse)
forgetting we were here first,
and how who laughs last so often laughs
the louder and longest

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2018

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005]

Alt-Ctrl-Delete

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Update (May 2016): Today’s poem was written in 1998 and first appeared in the CC&'D magazine, Scars Publications (USA) 1999. Scars now publish issues through Amazon which are printed in the U.K. and Europe. Given that Scars are now able to release it internationally, hopefully contributors and interested readers can enjoy ordering hard copies without paying an insane shipping price for mailing from the States any more. Interestingly, Scars publishes only non-rhyming or blank verse; they have published some 50+ of my poems since the late 1990's which is a healthy poetic exercise for me as I usually use rhyme a lot.  More information about Scars at: http://scars.tv/ccd.htm

This poem springs to mind whenever I am at the keyboard of my computer along with the constant threat to global as well as personal survival with which we all live daily thanks to humankind’s general complacency regarding Green issues.

ALT-CTRL-DELETE

Blank screen staring at me
like a dead man's eye
as if taken by surprise
at the moment of execution,
expecting pulse, heartbeat,
a flow of blood to the works
in spite of those quirks
of human nature that put a body
on hold whenever its world
ceases to turn, all civilisation
gone to ash and dust, leftovers
of personal ambition

From inspiration, no help
to guide pen or brush;
Desolation, a lush wading
through risen waters
of the earth, baring pain
like a rose its petals
in acid rain, deserving better
at Nature’s hand
than a travesty of imitation driven
by Man’s jealousy of God
if only for being free of chains
(no human being exempt)

As melting ice caps start to flood
this world of ours, we can lose heart,
drown in its worst nightmares
(poet found dead at the keyboard)
or find a voice...

Our choice

Copyright R. N. Taber 2001, 2012

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001.]