Some people, some companies, some decision-makers in particular, have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money. And I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.
~Teen activist Greta Thunberg tells Davos elite they're to blame for climate crisis
Isn't Ms. Thunberg marvelously direct? She's not pulling any punches. Learn about her Fridays for Future movement here.
Today's poem is from the Chicago Review of Books' Best Poems about Climate Change. There's a link below to Gabriel Byrne (that voice!) reading it.
The Solace of Artemis
by Paula Meehan
For Catriona Crowe
I read that every polar bear alive has mitochondrial DNA
from a common mother, an Irish brown bear who once
roved out across the last ice age, and I am comforted.
It has been a long hot morning with the children of the machine,
their talk of memory, of buying it, of buying it cheap, but I,
memory keeper by trade, scan time coded in the golden hive mind
of eternity. I burn my books, I burn my whole archive:
a blaze that sears, synapses flaring cell to cell where
memory sleeps in the wax hexagonals of my doomed and melting comb.
I see him loping towards me across the vast ice field
to where I wait in the cave mouth, dreaming my cubs about the den,
my honied ones, smelling of snow and sweet oblivion.
* Gabriel Byrne reads The Solace of Artemis
* The Chicago Review of Books has a regular feature by Amy Brady on climate fiction (cli-fi) called Burning Worlds.
* If you're thinking about making a donation to assist polar bears, The NRDC (Natural Resource Defense Council) gets terrific ratings from Charity Navigator.
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My Juicy Little Universe has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Heidi!
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14 comments:
I love Ms. Thunberg and the quote you shared. The poem you chose is poignant and a fitting choice for this week. Thank you for sharing it.
I thought we were on our way to better until the '16 election, making changes. The focus on memory brings up all kinds of connections, words well spent! I read yesterday that Greta Thunberg has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Would that others will listen and not dismiss her. Thanks, Tabatha.
Fabulous quote!! Greta pulls no punches; love her passion and commitment. Thanks too, for sharing "The Solace of Artemis," so moving and thought provoking.
How wonderful that the Chicago Tribune (a real newspaper) has collected the best poems on Climate Change & how generous of you to let us know - otherwise, how would this trickle out. I am looking forward to spending some time with it.
And on Ms. Greta Thunberg, I shared about her last week on the fb action page Order of the 1640. She is going to be a prime minister I hope, some day. Brava! for the young people, especially the young women. There is so much to cheer about when I learn how active they are in the important ways. I love this post today. Appreciations.
Chicago Review of Books .... correction
I'm putting this anthology on my wish list, Tabatha. Thanks for the recommendation.
Wow-what a find, the poem and resource. The bears, the bees, the I...it's all rather mysterious and affecting,isn't it? Thank you.
Thanks for the links you included. I requested one of the books from the Chicago Review of Books list of the best books on climate change in 2018.
Memory keeper - those words are filled with such meaning! Loved the link to the reading of the poem you included.
Thank you for the link to the poem recitation. I'm entering a new phase of needing to hear poetry. I know how weird that looks as I type it. Of COURSE you should hear poetry aloud. But, for a long time now, reading....just the reading of poetry has satisfied me. But, now I am looking in all kinds of places around the net to hear it. I love this reading. Funny how my poet-self grows. Makes me laugh sometimes.
"time coded in the golden hive mind
of eternity"
We humans are hobbled by our small-minded sense of time as only our personal NOW. That's part of what has caused this disaster. As a species, we seem have no sense of the Grand Scheme of Things.
Speaking of memory keeper... Miranda was telling me the other day that she was listening to a friend's senior project and it was all about how the trees really are connected to one another, that is, they communicate with one another and share resources to stay healthy if left to grow without human intervention. It's sad to think that even if we plant trees to replace some of the damage we've done to the planet, it's not the same. Trees have to reproduce on their own to create that kind of network, and in some cases, the harm we've done is irreparable.
I thought it wonderful that so many young people called out the powers that be at Davos, we need more of that. I agree with Linda, we were on a good track until the last election - so much to recover from in 2020.
That reading by Gabriel Byrne really adds an extra layer to the poem–beautiful use of metaphor in this sad-but-true tale of our climate dilemma. Speaking from Mary Lee's comment above about "our small minded sense" I attended a poetry workshop at the Poetry Foundation today and was talking with another attendee who mentioned her kids where out of school yesterday. I asked if they attended any of the Marches, she had no idea there were any Climate Marches yesterday at all–lack of knowledge like this really saddens me. Thanks for the rich post Tabatha and the links to the climate books.
It is comforting to think of that one brown bear.
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