by L. Ravindran, UK
Sight: What do you see when you see the sea Thick, black waves, thundering majesty But can you see, really, Dark, oil-slicked, nothing but carbon-loving algae, Learning to die in the Anthropocene. Sound: We once woke to birdsong How will we awaken? When singing becomes screeching Screeching becomes screaming And screaming silence Touch: Mucky hands and sooted feet Clawing, grabbing, stamping Dirty people, a toxic house. We will clean the walls And scratch the shame from them Taste: Plastic food in plastic bags Strawberries in December Where’s the taste in the soil near you? You no longer remember. Please think as you eat and drink Stolen mother’s milk. Smell: The anosmic vacuum of walking down These over-hot streets— I project this, prematurely: The smell of new growth left behind As moisture on the asphalt evaporating ... Our demise.
Eco-poetry workshop w/ Nadira 15/04/19 at Marble Arch, Extinction Rebellion protest camp
