Seeps+Chemicals+Unnatural

 Creatures amazing, minute, individual, flocked together, pressed apart… clawing—diving—digging— surviving.

Earth’s life replenishes and refuels, creates surprises: Heart shapes in jungles and rocks, Water pools in parched gullies of the desert, Flowers' patchwork lace on God's quilt across orchids' petals,

And yet…

Trash lines our streets and rivers, seeps chemicals unnatural, man-made, Even humans tossed out of jobs and displaced from homes find beds among our uneaten food and unread news; The forgotten. The wasted.

//When will we wake from this horrible dream?//

Dead birds house our plastic wrapped around their necks, cloaked in Walmart bags, our own plastic drains into our baby’s bottles  and we wonder why cancers are on the rise and dancing butterflies don’t make their destinations.

Foxes make dens down under our decks, their fields encroached upon, make do and prosper… rust-colored they are like our junk cars, kids notice the blurred fur streak across the street; we miss it and smile instead at our clever text.

“Super-size” this with Big Gulps and King Size, anti-bacterial soaps and disposable diapers, We drink water and throw away our plastic two times, three times, four times a day. We give our children Ritalin to calm their hyperactivity, and feed them drinks with chemicals we can’t pronounce.

Two decades since the devastating Valdez spill, yet quickly cattails stretch towards the sun and create skyscrapers for snow geese; oil rainbows have lessoned, but tadpoles sprout like the dolly varden— gills in and out, in and out, swim quickly through the arctic waters...and prosper. 

Our “Back to Basics” did nothing basic; instead we drain Earth’s resources and depend on those that hate our existence. …have technology that can power the world, but we argue partisan politics and hidden agendas: Does spending big mean big government? Or should we keep our big bonuses? “Super-sizing” the government is where we're headed some say, but demand bailouts-- Banks and auto businesses must be saved...the backbone of America! What happened to the backbone of families: dinner served face to face, services spent kneeling in thanks?

Herds of elk, giants against the grazed grass of the golf course, the flag waves unnoticed. They bugle and listen to their calves, walk onto our greens, becoming accustomed to our noise ...and prosper.

Our families race into the drive-thru just in time to race home to reality TV: the daisies' out front dance unseen Our children shushed and our family dinners rushed, engaged in someone else’s altered life.

//When will we realize we are sitting next to the forgotten, the wasted?//

Creatures selfish, egotistical, solo, brought together, chosen to part…

cheating—whining—wasting— devouring.  We pull up to order and pull out with our food gulped, still hungry for the next fast food “feast.” 

//Creatures, our teachers, when will we hear the lesson you teach?// 