GANDHI’S Spiritual Great GRANDDAUGHTER
She is of the fireShe is of the lightShe looks to the leftShe looks to the rightFire and lightLight and fire FireOf heart and soulLight of the sunAnd the “woke”…
David Sparenberg
CREED & Weapons of an EARTH SPIRIT (Peaceful) WARRIOR: a Lyric Essay
Do not kill. Do not commit murder. Or employ traumatic violence to inflict suffering, grief and loss on any other. Let me say it again: Do not kill. Do not…
Earth Day
Todayis my day of renouncement.Today I renouncethings and thingnessof the It World.And the dehumanizing powerof things touse and rule over me: the carthe cellphonethe computerthe clockthe television artificial intelligenceand the…
EPIC – a Back to the Future Political Romance for Public Recitation
Dedicated to US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sing in me Muse the epic tale of that Earth daughter who shook the foundations of the Dark Towers and challenged in combat the…
Happening
Out of a seed in the groundcomes a flower. Miracle!Out on the branch of a treecome blossoms in spring.Out from the blossoms fruit growsdelighting senses.And an offering of food. Out…
A POLITICAL ACT of MURDER
a few seconds an old man, in torn dirty clothes, cautiouslyemerges from the blown-out shellof a charred building he walks with a canestooped, his head loweredthe old man’s eyesight is…
Walls
I am stupid.We are all stupid.We worship the idolsof human stupidity.We build walls. The alternativeis intimate and easy. People everywhere are waiting…Individually, people everywhereare waiting. Not for the promiseof perfection…
The White Rose
The light of reasonAnd the Higher LightAnd there is sanity in the light The fire of passionAnd that is LoveThe flow of passionate life Believe in the River of Crossing…
The Vanishing
behind the shadow of her nakednessthe vanishingbehind the vanishingsilencebehind the silencecowardicebehind cowardicethe maskbehind the maskthe shattered mirrorbehind broken realitythe drought of shallow tearsthe frothing spate of ragethe hating fleshbehind the…
A Call To Prayer
come to me hereyour eyes widelike the bride of morning i have pitched my tabernacle tentneither near nor faron the routes of passage where dust of travelersfills my nostrilsand the…
Lament
For the sake of Godhe saidhis voice in tremor. For sake of the Earth and moon.For wind over trees.For the sake of mirror-wateron a moonlit lake. He shaped his heartinto…
LOYAL to the EARTH
If you choose loyalty, bypass being merely patriotic. Patriotism is a political tool used mostly by propagandists to stir emotions and further an oppositional agenda – an ideology. Loyalty is…
IN the HUMAN WORLD
In the human worldwe have heroesand villainsand cowards. Those who defend lifetaking risks aboveand beyond self interestthose who destroy lifeand those we do not carewho play games ofselfish detachment and…
Faces
The world is full.Filled with hardships.Filled with courage.Filled with suffering. EverywhereThere are human faces.Everywhere the pathosOf conscious mortality.Everywhere the pathosOf human faces. The world is full. Filled with struggles and…
Touchstones
It is good to joinwhat should be joinedand it is good to partwhat should be parted. It is evil to joinwhat should not be joinedand to partwhat should not be…
Gautama
The world kept rushing by.And with it anger. Finallyhe freed his emotions from the tangled world. From a palace window he could seethe shore of an ancient sea.In his heart…
All Flowers
All tonguesThat have spoken in prayerAre equally beautiful.All places of worshipAll over the EarthAre beautiful. All facesAll racesAll deeds doneThat have shone with loveShineAnd are beautiful. Harsh worldDo not fall…
Remember Lahaina
Those with holes instead of eyes do not see. They are blind. Those with holes instead of ears do not hear. They are deaf. Emotionally numb devoid…
Warrior’s Choice
Within discipline to become: an eco-person within an eco-person soul within soul humility within humility courage within courage empathy within empathy fire within fire dignity within the prayer of dignity…
Resistance
It is in this way that the rebel…says yes and no simultaneously. Albert Camus, The Rebel No nukes and no thermobaric weapons no unregulated AI no child pornography no…
The Day Arrived
The day (once more) when the world as we know it stopped the Doomsday Clock, barely in the nick of time, stood still the power of political death over individual…
Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey park ranger desert solitary author – avatar of beautiful traumatized Earth wrote to us with a pine needle with tip of the tail of a gopher snake, “there…
Truth is Radical
A Prose Poem or Ecosophic Meditation Look: Civilization ended in a post-midnight place named Auschwitz; with the terminal moment of anti-event, at the irreversible dropping of The Bomb on Hiroshima. …
LA VIE EN ROSE
They wanted love. The young. The desire was inside them. A candle in the night. A match in a bedroom of fireworks. They wanted to tumble in pairs into…
HE STANDS on the ROCK
He stands on the Rock the beautiful rock beside the flourishing Tree of Life. He stands on the Rock on the beautiful rock beside the flowing river of light.…
To Youth of the World – Activists, Global Citizens, Earth Keepers, Red Road Walkers
When the corrupters, swindlers, betrayers, deniers – the practitioners of ecocide and insanity – tell you, “Calm down.” Don’t calm down. Rise up! When they tell you, “Don’t be an…
The AGE of FLOWERS
I am of flowers. I came out from the butterfly. I came out from the bee, the dancing bee – the hummingbird’s feathered breast. Once upon a time, a…
Trauma
House: house made of wood is on fire. Fiery winds blow our ashes away. Burning forests and the grasslands. House: house made of clay. Raging waters wash towns away.…
CHORUS of CHOICES – In 10 Notes
One: Earth is in danger. We are the source of Earth’s endangerment. Troubles are real. Consequences are rapidly becoming global reality. Two: Each person living on this Living Earth must…
THE ONCE and FUTURE KING: a Back to the Future Meditation in Three Movements
First Movement: Round Table and the Peers When Arthur realized he was to become king, and not just any king, but the illustrious Once and Future King, he went…
Happy B-Day USA
I love my children. I love my grandchildren. And have deep concern for the youth of the Earth. Who and what do you love? What we value defines who we…
Resisting End-Time
In a recent report, the United Nations set out some top priorities everyone can practice in helping to counter climate change and keep Earth (humanly) habitable. Here is the short…
Shame
The burden of absence savages the heart. How to give voice to the horrors of grief? In the valley of tears rivers from Eden run red with the salt of…
Fatal Flaw and Fatal Folly
Most in the white West are not raised to expect seriousness. A carefree lifestyle is that of privilege. Individuals, of course, suffer hardships from disease, domestic or social violence. …
War
written on the eve of Earth Day, 2022 i spit an iron ball at you i spit a ball a meteor of fire… i spit into your eyes i spit…
A MORALITY of SUNFLOWERS
The angel of death with a man’s face; the mother of life comforting children. Here is where we are a planet shaken by war. People riven. We…
EUCHARIST of WAR
Eat this. There is not much time for eating. We fight and food is scarce and getting scarcer. Maybe this is our last supper? Perhaps the world is ending?…
Again There Is War
There is war. Again there is war on the European continent – war of type and magnitude not experienced in Europe since Hitler and the racism imperialism of Nazi…
FREEDOM: a Poetic Declaration in Two Movements
Part One: inspired & freely adapted from a poem by the French lyric poet Paul Eluard On every door at every gate in every doorway on all the windows, mirrors…
Tears
I am speaking with you. We are talking together, speaking of ordinary things, using ordinary words. It is good talk too. The everyday is as much at risk as the…
My Eco List
This is not lifeless Saturn or Jupiter, the Moon, Venus, or Mars. Because a neighboring planet is named for a Roman goddess does not mean that women originate there…
DEAD BEES and BUTTERFLIES, FLOWES, TREE and the PLASTIC SEA
Globally, bees and butterflies, the winged beauties of the insect-beasty world, are dying, vanishing from habitat and planet. Bees and butterflies are pollinators. Without them, there will be no flowers.…
ATTEND to GAIA the LIVING EARTH
Look. I am before you. Now I am here: I am making a statement proclaiming a truth nothing less than an outcry. Listen. I am speaking truth crying out.…
Applying Nonviolent Noncooperation
I suppose I could have titled this writing Applying Nonviolent Noncooperation to Pernicious Consumerism, or to Malignant Normalcy. Notwithstanding, here are my thoughts…. For as long as it remains profitable…
The TRAGEDY of LEAR acts 3 thru 5
He is an old man, truly a very old man, and the sudden crashing into splintered smallness of his life is playing out on a tightrope, a fraying tightrope, sawed…
Every Day Is An Earth Day: Suggestions for Living in an Ecozoic Future
Here are two lists of changes that can and should be made, restoring this Earth home more fully to a habitable, life-diversified, and evolving planet. Outward behaviors everyone can practice…
POEM to the EARTH
i have sought to love you unworthy that i am i have sat in the tall grass looking out over water watching a setting sun and i…
A BACK to the FUTURE DIALECTIC
I wish to write a little on a couple of terms, one of which, Ground or Grounding Dimension, I learned from an essay by Larry Dossey, and the other, Floating…
CHOICES (a partial list)
If we must choose between civilization and barbarity we must choose civilization. But only if the injustices and atrocities of civilization do not exceed those of barbarism. If we…
MOTHER and CHILD
Of all visions accessible on this living Earth, no natural sight is more beautiful that a mother and child. If the mother and child are human (no matter of what…
Majority Report
There is something at the very core about us that needs to change. This cannot be emphasized often enough. We need to change how we think. How we think of…
In Search of America
The disparity between America’s ideals and America’s main street realities are always vast and often stark. This has always been so, most apparently and appallingly for Americans of color…
THIS IS for YOU
Wherever on this distressed and yet magnificent Earth you live, this is for you. Right here, right now: Let’s be open and honest before one another. Please. Look at the…
Remember Gandhi
Remember Gandhi. Practice nonviolence. Adhere to nonviolence. Refrain from attacking people as the means to achieve an interpersonal goal. You seek to change policies and systems that make policies,…
Mr. Floyd
My maternal grandfather’s family name is Floyd. His mother was a Cherokee woman and Grandfather Floyd’s cousin was from the Choctaw nation. The cousin was considered the Robin Hood of…
GATHERING at the CENTER
This poem was originally written on request and publicly recited by then Seattle Mayor, Norm Rice (a Black American) for the reopening of Key Arena and the Founders’ Fountain at…
Autistic Boy
The mute boy as slender as a willow sapling looks at the world with eyes big and bright by light intake and color. He does not look at the…
Democracy: from Athenian Origins to 21st Century America
I will not write much here. Those who read me often hear enough of my words and have become familiar with my convictions and concerns. What I am doing instead…
Freedom
inspired by & freely adapted from a poem by the French poet Paul Eluard On every door at every gate in every doorway on all the windows, mirrors of…
Impeachment: What Is At Risk
Today, as the public phase of impeachment hearings are underway, I am watching while reading from the Life of Frederick Douglass. Sadly, I admit to not trusting the American people…
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