We mere mortals too often forget who is actually
in charge on this spinning spaceship, we call Earth.
We are but passengers, ungrateful ones at that, we
use up, litter and destroy, we foul the very air we
breathe, our excrement and discarded waste clogs
and pollutes the oceans, creeks and rivers.
We callously **** other living creatures for sport
mounting their heads as trophies on our walls.
Not because we are hungry.

We are the only creatures on earth that make war
on and **** our own kind. Flawed, evil or just stupid?
Perhaps all these labels apply.

For our wasteful transgressions Nature will one day
purge us from the planet and we will deserve that
retribution. A dire and stark reality, but one need
only look around to see the direction things are going.
There are no lifeboats on this ship and no deity above
to save us.

And in the end the streams will again run clear, and the
air will be fit to breath. The green things will flourish,
and the small creatures of wing and four legs will once
again, rule the days. Humankind will be purged from
the earth, leaving nothing of any merit behind to mark
our passing. As if we never existed.

The soliloquies
born of tears,
spoke of Loneliness.
The Plays the Thing.
The Long and Winding Road.  

Hamlet was not crazy,
as some think,

he was alone.

Lady Macbeth scraped blood
from her hands in a
castle of lonely rooms.

McCullers loneliness
was a companion.  

Teasdale wrote of the sea's
lonely foam.

Lear,  alone,  held Cordelia
to the
cold and empty sky.

I know Alone.   It is a wind
just past my skin.   Your hand
on my face is a reflection.   My
skin is uninterrupted by the
conversation of your fingers.

Alone is the road
we travel.  

Evermore.


Caroline Shank
8.16.2022

Spent in terms of patience as excesses , now, abound
Common law and jurisprudence are now no longer sound.
Tribal rule runs rampant in the steel belt of the West
Where raging Trumpists violate, seemingly absolved from arrest.
Democrats wring their hands and bleat, aloud, foul play
Republicans roar with gleeful mirth and veto every say.
The Fat Cats of the oil game rub their hands with glee
With the cost of fuel escalating, to ruinous heights, for thee.
Catastrophic global floods and wildfires rage at large
Fueled by rampant climate change, unchecked now in its charge,
Political expediency, bold power lust and greed
Depict man’s abdication of remedial actions need…
Like Nero we all laugh and fiddle, shrug and fail to learn
Ignoring the collapse as our darling Planet burns.

Russia kills and maims and rapes and bellows it’s demands
Disavowing war crimes as the blood flows from their hands,
Rule book’s out the window, she holds the world at bay
With overt nuclear threatening optimizing Putin’s play.
Regardless of the outcome, Russia is condemned
For the next 10,000 years she will mirror ******’s trend.
Ukraine will arise again, Ukraine shall be secure
But the global condemnation Russia suffers…SHALL ENDURE!

Unlike other nations, China’s plan is long
They map out their objectives in a 500 year old song,
Patience is their virtue, diligence their strength
And little on this planet will deter their competence.
The populace supports their totalitarian regime
And their ascension to Superpower status, is uncompromisingly supreme.
Commercially a powerhouse, with military might
And an ambition to conquer the whole world, as of right.
China’s tentacles reach out through mantles of trade
Extending worldwide in a vast networking blade
USA, Africa, Europe and the East
With a recently conquering infiltrated feast
In thrusting South to the Pacifica Islands, ensnared,
Rendering, startled, fortress Australia, scared
With New Zealand aghast, dithering hither and thither
Leaving them ideologically and economically, ridiculously aquiver??
China weaves her long term fat, greedy spider web
Described, perhaps,as Plumish Pink… than rather Hellish Red!

The voice in the wilderness, howling it’s concern
Roaring it’s objection to the fact WE NEVER LEARN,
Mistakes remade repeatedly, Mankind outstays his hand
At the risk of phased obsequiousness….The timer’s running out of sand!
And time is of the essence here and courage is the key
But the combination’s lethal with our WEAK MENTALITY.
It only takes one tiny phrase, an insult out of place
And that offended nuclear nation suddenly plays their hidden ace….
India and Pakistan, Iran, the Middle East,
North Korea and potentially a remilitarized Japan, may join the feast?
The rampant insecurity found right now across the globe
Shall guarantee a reaction, which is likely to explode.
The cataclysm shall erupt….. WE SHALL CEASE TO BE!!
….Then the rat and the cockroach shall own eternity!


M.
The Voice in the Wilderness
In New Zealand, aquiver.
15 August 2022

Oh, little grey cat,
come sit on my lap.
and snuggle like
my old departed
feline used to do.

Too independent
as cats tend to be,
maybe in time you
will perch on my lap
and purr contentedly.

Truth be told, I fully
understand your
affection shown is
way more about your
needs than mine.
The rest of the time
you could not care less.
Cats are the ultimate
animal hedonist.