the Indian Summer goes
on and on
while parts
of our country
sink beneath
a rising sea
and rivers wash away
their innocent banks
most of the world accepts
it is undergoing
a change in climate:
glaciers collapse
icebergs shed
great spurs and shelfs
once-frozen oceans are
awash with melting debris
and plastic poison
everywhere a gigantic thaw
is enfeebling the familiar
no matter
that scientists warn
so many bind their eyes
and plug their ears
as they
throw off their duvets
shun their winter woollens
and fly south
to resorts which are
no warmer
than home
on the domestic front
cats still await
their winter coats
and bask in late sunshine
unquestioning and loving
their lives stretch unclouded
while we warm
and anxious ones
do what we can
to brightly delay
the world’s
end
Jeff Cloves
Illustration Nick Victor
thank you Nick
Comment by jeff cloves on 19 October, 2019 at 3:13 pmA pleasure Jeff and no no thank you. x
Comment by Editor on 22 October, 2019 at 4:50 amSpot on ,
Comment by Chris Dibnah on 21 October, 2019 at 4:11 pmJust in the nick of time.
Didn’t need to put my fingers in my ears,
Nor ever would,
The ring of truth from bell ,
End in Stroud,
As a youth in trauma,
Where yon old poet,
Shot him down,
Must still resound,around that ageless
Cotswold town,
Of qlique renown.
Dennis bares,
Not half your frown..
In the unending debate about whether global warming is a natural cycle or the result of our own abuse of the natural world,
Comment by jeff cloves on 24 October, 2019 at 3:16 pmwarfare is never mentioned. I can’t imagine how many wars are being waged across the planet as I write but what I can be sure of is that they are entirely dependent on petrol diesel aero-fuel nuclear (submarines) and substances we don’t even know about.
The consumption of fossil-fuel by troop movements trucks jeeps tanks warships airplanes helicopters earth-movers etc.
must be colossal. Every gun fired and every bomb torpedo and missile released, releases CO2 and attendant chemical pollution – as in the use of Agent Orange to destroy forests in Vietnam. ALL warfare is mechanically-driven and lays waste land water animals – in fact all flora and fauna. What permanent(?) damage six years of WW2 did to the environment is I guess unknown (or ignored) – never mind the slaughter of millions. WW2 was the first war I understand to have killed more civilians than military personnel, But to the point. It’s my guess that warfare is the biggest contributor of all to global warming and yet it’s never mentioned let alone discussed. Even the Greens – unless I’m missing something – never raise this issue. So what to do and how to overcome a feeling of helplessness in the teeth of the continuing popularity of fighting wars for imperial gain, let alone the fatuousness of fighting wars to prevent war. One tactic is the invisible insurrection of a million minds. It’s going on unknowable and undetectably around us all the time. It must prevail if we are to survive. So join in and get to it.