Poets for Living Waters – New Statements / Poems

I don’t have the answers. I barely have the questions.  But I’m not egotistical enough to imagine I can come up with a solution or complete understanding on my own.  I also don’t think sitting in front of the TV, feeling angry and impotent, is the answer. This is our Chernobyl. Our genocidal war with our own environment.  We may implode with oil and shed a tear for the dead fishing industries.  Swim among tar balls and swollen sea turtles.  We’ve done it to ourselves, grown up obeying the homegrown U.S. ethos of “Progress. Increase your wealth. Produce, produce, produce!” We panic when the GDP wanes. If we don’t have full-time jobs we spend the bulk of days doing, we feel empty and worthless.

But what are we contributing to? Americans aren’t afraid to work, no question. But we don’t seem to have our eyes on the horizon—we don’t seem to know what all of our blood, sweat and tears are building. We mourn the men who died on that oil well platform; we applaud their determination to do their jobs. But the oil – why has this lust and greed and profit-for-oil dictated how we heat our homes, run our machinery, get us around? Why do our jobs rely and focus on getting and selling the black sludge?

Why do we live with this reliance? When I note that I don’t have the answer, I am simultaneously aware that the current ways we live are inherently, and traumatically flawed. We are co-dependent users, whether we realize and admit it or not.  My children–and yours–will have to deal with the fallout of this legacy – the future? It’s finally time to change the view. Now we are forced to ask the questions in our own backyards:  How else can we carry on? How can we replace our reliance on oil? What harm have we done? How can we slow down the pace, stop working for greedy oil profit margins and think more humanely about exactly what our jobs are?

These are just a few of the questions we’ve begun to ask. We now must get other Americans to ask these questions. The media isn’t going to pose them.  Our media is owned and run by big business. They will not imagine better ways of life for us.  America has done great things; we still have the power to do more. If we can just start envisioning a different future than the one on our horizon (and TVs) right now…

Please find a number of new statements and poems linked below from regular Americans, necessarily increasing in dialogue and scope, asking vital questions – please participate, think aloud, figure out what world you’d like to be borne into and what world you’d like to leave your children living in.  Share with your friends, family, co-workers, and strangers alike. Let’s become our own “think tank” and stop giving big business the power to tell us how to live our lives.    We’re still here – it’s not “too late” to respond, to change things in small ways at first — if the effects of this spill will be felt for decades, so should our actions in response to it!  Thanks for joining this growing nationwide conversation…

IF THE CATASTROPHE GOES ON BY FRANZ WRIGHTATLANTIS MADE EASY BY EVIE SHOCKLEYBIRDS AND WORDS BY BILL MARSHTHREE POEMS BY KATE SCHAPIRATHREE POEMS BY CARLY SACHSTWO POEMS BY ALICIA OSTRIKERTHE HAND THAT SLANTS BY PATRICK DURGINTWO POEMS BY KIRSTEN KASCHOCKTHREE POEMS BY JEFF NEWBERRYTHREE POEMS BY PHILIP METRES“WHO HAS NO LAND HAS NO SEA” BY FADY JOUDAHOIL SPILL BY TARA BETTSTHREE POEMS BY GORDON MASSMANFORT MORGAN BY JOSEPH P. WOODGREAT AWAKENING BY RODRIGO TOSCANOTWO POEMS BY NICOLE COOLEYODE TO THE PELICAN BY ALISON PELEGRINSLIPPINGGLIMPSE BY STEPHANIE STRICKLAND, CYNTHIA LAWSON JARAMILLO, PAUL RYANTHREE POEMS BY SAM SCHILDTWO POEMS BY JAN HELLER LEVIHATCHLING BY LISANNE THOMPSONTHREE POEMS BY JULIAN T. BROLASKIFIVE POEMS BY JAMES WAGNEROIL BY JUDITH BARRINGTONTWO POEMS BY TAMIKO BEYERFROM KETJAK BY RON SILLIMANTHE DAY AFTER THE END OF HISTORY: A BIRTHDAY POEM BY T. CLAYTON WOODSPILL BY ANGELA SORBYTWO POEMS BY BROOKS HAXTONFOLLOWING THE RUN BY GRACE CAVALIERITWO POEMS BY MICHELE BATTISTETWO POEMS BY MARTHA SERPASTWO POEMS BY FRANK SHERLOCKPHILADELPHIA WORLD OCEANS DAY READING!THREE POEMS BY ELIZABETH TWIDDYTWO POEMS BY CAITLIN PLUNKETTAPORIA BY ROBERT PHILBENIN EXTREMIS [+ VIDEO] BY NEIL DE LA FLORLICKETY-SPLIT BY ANNE HIGGINSA MOODY STREAM BY STEVE DALACHINSKYTHE FLOODING THAT WRITES ITSELF BY EILEEN R. TABIOSTWO POEMS BY MELISSA TUCKEYORIFICE BY MARCELLA DURANDDESCENDING BLUES BY BRANDON LAMSONAN ORDINANCE OF POSSESSION BY TONY MANCUSTWO POEMS BY MOLLY GAUDRYCHANDELEUR SOUND BY MARTHE REEDDEEPWATER HORIZON POEMS BY NICOLE MAUROHONORING WORLD OCEANS DAY — BROOKLYN ACTIONTEMPUS FIDGET BY GEOFFREY GATZAHONORING WORLD OCEANS DAY–ALASKAN ACTIONFOUR POEMS BY MICHAEL ROBINSSPIRIT BEAR BY CONRAD DIDIODATOFIVE POEMS BY AMY SARA CARROLLECHOES BY NATHAN HAUKEFUNDRAISING TO SAVE THE GULF–MICHAEL ROTHENBERG OF BIG BRIDGE RALLIES UPCOMING COMMUNITY ACTIONBLACKBURNIAN WARBLER BY JONATHAN SKINNERMARE PETROLEUM BY JAMES REIDELTHREE POEMS BY MICHAEL LEE RATTIGANFINAL POEM FOR THE BODY BY RICKEY LAURENTIISFOUR POEMS BY KAZIM ALITHREE POEMS BY LARA CANDLANDMISSISSIPPI BY CAITLIN THOMPSONTWO POEMS BY BRIAN SPEARSFROM THINGS COLUMBUS SAID ABOUT GOLD BY SCOTT ABELSTHREE PROSE POEMS BY MICHAEL LEONGJUST DIGESTED BY LEORA FRIDMANPIMP MY TOP KILL LIVE FEED MOTHERSHIP BY SHARON MESMERCALL FOR WORK – GULF COAST POEMS

Poets and Writers Magazine — “Poets Take Action in Wake of Gulf Coast Disaster“ 

Poets and Writers Magazine — “Poets Take Action in Wake of Gulf Coast Disaster“