Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Climate

“Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else.  
And that makes me quite nervous.” 
― Oscar Wilde

“Men argue. Nature acts.” ― Voltaire


“One of the biggest differences between humans and trees 
is simply that humans burn trees.” 
― M. JacksonWhile Glaciers Slept: 



Face the future
"Fortunately, the world’s governments are now fully convinced of the scientific evidence of climate change and the need to take urgent action. . . . "   (From WMO, where a number of countries have contributed videos of weather reports from the year 2050.)
***


“Much of the oxygen we breathe comes from plants that died long ago. We can give thanks to these ancestors of our present-pay foliage, but we can't give back to them. We can, however, give forward. . . . When tackling issues such as climate change, the stance of gratitude is a refreshing alternative to guilt or fear as a source of motivation.” 
― Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone

***


Midweek Motif ~ Climate

  • World Meteorological Day is held annually on 23 March.
  • The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is the UN system's authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources
  • WMO Regions.PNG
    Member states of the World Meteorological Organization.
  • Technically, climate is a set of weather statistics gathered over many years, a summary of tendencies in a region condensed from many spheres: atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere
  • The science is too complex for me to understand.  It would take poets or novelists to explain it to me, just as they have been explaining the human and political climate to me for years―and the climate is changing.

Your challenge:  In a new poem, use climate or climate change as a thematic element.  As an added challenge―if you wish to accept ituse a specific situation to clarify a political or natural climate change in the past, present or future.

***
BY MARGARET ATWOOD
Winter. Time to eat fat
and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,   
a black fur sausage with yellow
Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries   
to get onto my head. It’s his
way of telling whether or not I’m dead.
If I’m not, he wants to be scratched; if I am   
He’ll think of something. He settles
on my chest, breathing his breath
of burped-up meat and musty sofas,
purring like a washboard. Some other tomcat,   
not yet a capon, has been spraying our front door,   
declaring war. It’s all about sex and territory,   
which are what will finish us off
. . . . 
(Read the rest HERE at The Poetry Foundaton)
Copyright © 1995 by Margaret Atwood. Source: Morning in the Burned House (1995)
(¡Pura vida! —Costa Rican phrase for "O.K." or "Great!")
Such heat! It brings the brain back to its basic blank.
Small, recurrent events become the daily news—
the white-nosed coati treading the cecropia's
bending thin branches like sidewalks in the sky,
the scarlet-rumped tanager flitting like a spark
in the tinder of dank green, the nodding palm leaves
perforated like Jacquard cards in a code of wormholes,
the black hawk skimming nothingness over and over.

What does the world's wide brimming mean, with hunger
the unstated secret, dying the proximate reality?
. . . . 
(Read the rest Here at The Poetry Foundation.)


UN Climate Summit Poem "Dear Matafele Peinem"
***



Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community.


                               (Next week Susan's Midweek will be ~ Ninety / The Nineties)


30 comments:

  1. Good morning, Poets United! I'm clambering into my car in about 45 minutes to drive from here to upstate New York where I'll be with my folks until Monday. I'll be reading at rest stops and when I arrive in late afternoon. Old Egg already knocked my socks off with his climate poem. I look forward to this double travel day, and for the calm between storms. Actually, I'm expecting cold but sunny weather on the actual road.

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  2. Thank you for the midweek bolt as ever - happy Easter weekend to all and safe travels..

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  3. You've read mine already as it's also my quadrille for dVerse – so that's one you can skip on the rest stops! :)

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    Replies
    1. True! But I am glad to see it again before I leave. Smile.

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  4. Happy Easter and safe journey for everyone who is going away. I'm already away and just heard the terrible news of Belgium.
    This inspired my poem. That and Good Friday.

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  5. Good morning, friends. A prompt dear to my heart. Looking forward to reading all the responses. Safe travels, those who are traveling.

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    1. Yes, I'm glad you are here! So much grim news needs company!

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  6. Happy Wednesday to all; enjoyed very much "Dear Matafele Peinem"

    Thank you Susan for a very interesting prompt

    much love...

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    1. Me too. I leapt up when I heard it to the end! Thank you, Gillena.

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  7. Hey everyone,

    Wooo hooo its time for Midweek Motif :D You could say I m fashionably late sigh but I wanted everything to be perfect!

    Sharing my poem "Permutation" hope you all like it. Thank you Susan for the inspiring prompt. Hope I did it justice.

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

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    Replies
    1. Glad you're here to share my elevensies break!

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    2. Likewise :D Happy Easter weekend :D

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  8. Thank you for the prompt, Susan.
    Happy Easter to all who celebrate it this week.

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  9. Wonderful prompt Susan....Glad I made it here this week. :-)

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  10. I have written a lot of poems about the climate so I picked political. I hope you like "Silver Haired Crusador" and no I didn't have Hillary in mind when I wrote it but it would fit. Lol!

    I'll be around to read all during the week so be patient I'll be there. Hugs!

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    Replies
    1. No problem, Bekkie. Hill didn't come to mind while I read it, but I see what you mean.

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  11. What an excellent prompt! I'm a little behind on my commenting (too many school activities), but I'll be by soon.

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    Replies
    1. Can there really be too many school activities? Haha! Thanks for making the time to write and post ...

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  12. A somewhat difficult prompt for me..but then it suddenly occurred!
    Thank you Susan:)
    Happy Easter to all poets:)

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  13. Hello Everyone, I did something a bit different for the prompt but I did include climate. Thank you for allowing my muse to speak.

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  14. Thank you for this prompt. I will sign in early tomorrow morning and visit and comment on everyone's poems. Turning in early tonight (goodnight ;)

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  15. Posted my poem. Brilliant prompt! :)

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  16. Thank you, Susan! In these days of frustration over the state of the world it's good to use poetry to speak out. I am in a bit of a mood about the fate of humanity and the planet and it's good to get it out!

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  17. Thanks for the Lovely Prompt. I added mine!

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  18. Thank you, Susan...my topic strayed a little but a quote you offered served as a starting point of inspiration.

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