Italy quakes in her boot
and Roman ruins rumble:
just gods playing games
with ancient marbles!
No Nero fiddling in the flames
of the Calais Jungle:
just men in hard hats
and orange overalls.
A statistic:
‘vertebrate populations are set to decline by 67%’;
shocking snapshot of ‘a victim of poachers’ –
not Hannibal crossing the Alps
but ‘mass extinction destroying the natural world’.
Crashing
collapse
of wildlife
and calamity
of humanity
unless we stop emitting hot air
and throwing our hands up in despair.
WE MUST ACT NOW!
© Kim M. Russell, 2016
Image found on http://www.theguardian.com
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Meeting the Bar with Futurism
This week, Björn has challenged us with Futurism, a movement in art and poetry that took root mainly in Russia and Italy, where it began with the Manifesto of Futurism, written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909.
Today, Björn wants us to apply the energy and the tools of Futurism in a new poem, letting loose anger, choosing a reason for revolting and looking only forwards, challenging and provoking with a blast of words.
writing in north norfolk 
I really love how you captured the energy and anger of a change, and yet showing that there is a possibility…
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Thanks, Björn 🙂
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You rocked the prompt, did some derring-do with line breaks & p;positioning–welcome to my style of charging forth. Enjoyed your protesting & still offering a solution.
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Thank you, Glenn!
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fantastic eco-ranting here! And that photo is heart-breaking.
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As soon as I saw it I knew I had to write about it. Humans have a lot to answer for.
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Very well said, Kim.
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Thank you, Sue! I’ll be over for this week’s photo prompt later.
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🙂
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A bleak future unless we act now, indeed. I fear we won’t. 😦
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But, as always, nature has a way of correcting the balance.
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Yes we MUST act now! Love your energy in this, Kim ❤️
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Thank you, Sanaa! I’m going back to read this morning – I couldn’t keep my eyes open last night!
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absolutely!
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Thanks for reading, Maureen!
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No need to worry about this. Bacterial will rejoice at our foolishness : The Earth and Life are just fine. Relax
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Thanks! Mother Nature always redresses the balance in one way or another. I just hate to see the havoc humans cause.
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Sadly those killings of animals and species will continue until we are gone ourselves. I also enjoy the inclusion of the current news in your verse – Italy’s quakes and cleansing of Calais Jungle.
Take care Kim !
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Thank you, Grace. I was trying to contrast acts of nature with acts of humans. I’m not sure if I met the challenge – it was tough!
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Brilliant interweaving of past-present-future and the duality of conquest of nature and fellow man.
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Thank you, Brian!
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(jaw hitting the floor). Brilliant. You nailed this prompt. I couldn’t see it at all….but you did. And made a marvelous job of it.
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🙂
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I like the staccato sounds and the semi-detached verses that leave the reader with much to chew over
calamity
of humanity
right on the button – Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, was yesterday’s news and it wasn’t an asteroid!
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Laura!
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Throwing up hands is what most of us all too often do. Your strong poem here sits well with a few others from this challenge which have really got me reexamining my level of engagement with some crucial issues.
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Beautiful. Powerful. Persuasive.
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Thank you!
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I’m disgusted. Poor thing!
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I couldn’t believe that photo when I saw it – those poachers should be punished.
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They need to be hung. How they think what they do isn’t bad is mind baffling. Evil is what it is
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