Chain Reaction; Inside/Out—an environmental poem

The following poem was submitted to Wired868 by Serina A Hearn:

Mahogany hardwood floors,

so polished you could see your face,

white silk-damask adorned

hand-carved settees and winged-

backed chairs stage the conference

on the fate of soil sustainability,

while Chopin entertains

the closed windows, with a view over

the obscured Port-of-Spain skyline.

Tons of Sahara dust

have descended on South America.

Cargo laden plumes,

navigate the Trade winds

for thousands of miles from, Bodele, Chad,

to blanket mineral rich

potassium, calcium, and iron,

on the neotropics: the Amazon basin,

along with T&T’s rainforests,

bringing nutrients to hungry,

ancient, carbon-mitigating, leafy sentinels

cooling skies for millennia.

Humanity chokes, but the dust will settle…

compared to the daily mass extinction

of thousands of insects and wild life

which survive on Natures’ breastmilk,

our discomfort is insignificant

to the man-made holocaust,

of billions burning,

crimes visible in outer-of-space:

Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, the Congo…

undeterred, illegal, global deforestation,

including here, where we act blind

to starving, and making homeless:

Ocelots, Capuchins, Toucans, Golden tree frogs,

Manatee, Pawi, Bats, Butterflies, and Moths.

The wasteland of Inside:

superficial, manicured hubris, is reflected Outside;

Botanic, animal, and fish extinctions

create a tipping point that brings humanity

to the threshold of extinction,

for in the end

how can we live without them?

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Serina A Hearn

Serina A Hearn is a Bishop Anstey alum who attended St Martin’s School of Art, London, UK. Two collections of her poems were published by Mid America Press Inc and Woodley Memorial Press. She is currently working on a third book.