Author: Gary Beck
Source: http://www.polseguera.com/writers/writing-505_earth-links.html


Earth Links


Gary Beck/Earth Links

 

Celebration

Independence Day

may have meant

more in the 1780's,

liberty just won,

a new nation

not yet as corrupt,

oppressive,

as the old world,

new citizens hopeful

the eloquent promise

of new government

would bring freedom.

 

Smoldering

Eruptions of violence

sweep the nation

reminding us

the American Dream

has frayed dangerously,

setting neighbor against neighbor

for mortal offenses,

real or imagined,

only shocking

those still insulated

from the pressure of poverty,

resentment of inequality

propelling many

to turn to crime

in the ongoing frustration

of not having enough.

 

Flight Risk

The birds of Bryant Park

do not live in cages,

though almost as confined

in midtown Manhattan,

since they don't migrate

thanks to climate change,

deforestation,

excess concrete

smothering habitat.

They subsist on crumbs,

lunchtime leftovers

from local workers,

as there's no regular

avian food supply

in this well-funded park,

that forbids feeding birds

because enterprising rats

claim their share of food.

The birds of Bryant Park

have a strange life cycle,

completely unnatural

despite genetic urge

ro reproduce in Spring

when food is abundant,

left by park visitors.

The sparrows and pigeons

dominate the food chain.

Sparrows fast, aggressive,

pigeons big, aggressive,

so warblers, catbirds,

other forest birds

without lodgings elsewhere,

can no longer compete

in the struggle for life.

But for several months

food is plentiful

for domineering birds

who reproduce like wild,

nourishing their young

with food snatched from beaks

of those who can't resist.

Then the weather changes.

It becomes colder.

People eat lunch indoors.

The food supply is gone.

Hunger becomes constant

and birds begin to die.

The young and weak go first,

unable to survive

lack of food, the cold.

When winter arrives

no one eats in the park.

More and more birds perish,

fragile city dwellers

unable to move on

to benevolent clime.

Only enough survive

to repeat the cycle

when Spring returns.

In the richest city,

in the richest country,

the death of a few birds

is never noticed,

citizens too busy

accumulating goods

to care about creatures

that don't affect their lives.

In an undeclared war

we assault nature

with powerful weapons

of mass destruction,

devastating the Earth

without consent

of other life forms

who share the planet,

condemned to death

by a selfish species.

 

Tourist Attraction

Physicists speculate

about various theories,

chaos theory,

string theory,

too esoteric

for liberal arts grads,

barely aware

of scientist's efforts

to communicate

with intelligent life

in the universe,

sending messages,

polite invitations,

never mentioning

to the unwary public

that future visitors

may not be as benevolent

as we pretend to be.

 

Competition

Thousands of spectators

attend the Olympic games,

billions watch on tv,

the internet, smart phones.

Every four years

the athletes are bigger,

stronger, faster,

break previous records,

yet it often seems

all that matters

is coming in first,

the honor of competing

completely forgotten

in the pursuit of gold.

 

'Earth Links' is an unpublished collection that contrasts the work of nature with the work of Man, often revealing our flagrant madness.