Draining the swamp of all human decency

In New Zealand
We love our wetlands
They're beautiful places
Rich habitats
Vital to environmental and human well-being

I've heard you're draining yours -
"What of?"
I asked,
And the answer seems to be
"Of all human decency"

*

Where once the bullfrogs croaked
And the blue herons soaked
And the land was buffered from the sea
Now
there's nothing in sight
not a bird in flight
just oil
as far as the eye can...

...look out
upon the desolation
of a once fair
land.

*

Yes, you heard me,
you're draining your swamp
of all human decency
and replacing it with
nothing but snake oil
and swamp monsters
grinning through their golden teeth

and pretending they can hold back the tide.

A.J. Ponder

PS: Release the kraken. :) 
PPS if you liked this poem, you may also enjoy:

The Circle of Life I  

The Circle of Life II

The Circle of Life III

I was particularly impressed with Senator Warren when she stood up to the drug companies. Her fight was my fight. For although drug regulation in America is so far away, it has had a detrimental effect all over the world. She did so, despite the bad optics, because the cause was just and right, and the consequences of failing will not only haunt America, but all the countries that through the FDA's influence allow America's drug industry to influence treatments.


 #globalwarming #kraken #swamp #swampmonsters #golden #tide #oil #snakeoil #drug

The Art of Modern Warfare with Words

They shall frame you,
then they shall destroy you,
mark my words,
there is no middle ground.

First they demonised the poor
for the crimes of the rich
Then they demonised the Muslims,
to steal oil
Now they're framing the Jews
with an old lie,
an evil lie
to stop you from seeing the whole picture.

They shall frame you,
then they shall destroy you,
mark my words,
brushstrokes matter.
 
We, the people,
are not the threat
The threat is the obscene voice
of corporations
A voice that has corrupted
the politicians
A voice that has corrupted
the media
A voice that
calls to your fears
and twists them.

Once they've framed you,
then they shall destroy you
Mark my words
the fight is now,
or not at all
As the media bows to
the narrative,
their integrity as
bought and sold as the politicians
receiving tobacco PAC cheques
on the house floor.

They shall frame you,
then they shall call you violent
and place the gun
They shall accuse you of the crimes
they have committed
They shall pay a pittance
and take everything -
water
freedom
your very life
and when there is nothing left,
they will blame you.

So please break the frame 
before it destroys you
Mark my words,
there is no middle ground -
unless you stand up -
unless you say no -
unless you yell the truth
like the smallest Who in Whoville.
Please make a noise,
just a yip or a squeak,
because
you are
our only hope.

They shall frame you,
then they shall destroy you
Mark my words,
the fight is now
or not at all.


A.J. Ponder



There is a companion poem for this piece, published 5 years ago, it's called Perspective.  http://anafflictionofpoetry.blogspot.co.nz/2011/03/tuesday-poem-perspective.html

So how is your world being framed?

1. Lying by Omission
2. Controlling the Debate
3. Scripting and Synchronizing News
4. Politicizing Everything  
5 Chasing and creating buzzwords and memes
6. Asking the Wrong Questions
7. Closing down the topic - or airing it like the birther conspiracy long after it was dead.
8 Triviality and Distraction
9. Outright Lying


It's time to fight for our rights #noDAPL #livingwage #HumanRights #sustainability #eco #climatechange #change #education #green #impact #peace #democracy #defundDAPL #PoliticalPrisoner #environment #pollution #climate #globalwarming #solar

Peace Out :)

A.J. Ponder

The Moment by A.J. Ponder

There's more than this -
more than the endless
wait
for expert idiots
who've yet
to reach the 21st century

The plane's on fire
smoke trailing
from the fuselage -
and you think
the remedy'sto look the other way?

So yeah,
I'll push
because you won't find this
without stepping out
into the abyss
of
might have been
should have been
 So keep your false
promises
of tomorrow
and take the leap
because I'm tired of watching
as you
destroy the engines,
shred the parachutes
and pretend
the moment is not upon us

The moment
when today
has lost it's luster -
and
today is
almost gone

A.J. Ponder 


It's been a good week, an angry week. So I hope you enjoy my angry poem :) And just so I can do the search engine thing - global warming, climate change, but of course that's not what this poem is about not really - just incidentally. I'm hoping it still works, anyway.

Thanks for dropping by, and have a great week!
A.J.
 

This Year of Fire

Michael demanded a rhyming poem before he went to bed - citing only rhyming poetry was proper poetry and the rest was just prose and far too easy.  Yeah right - cue the Tui billboard.  In any case, I have worked hard tonight to comply with his "request" - but even so this almost sonnet, almost certainly needs a little work...or at least the cold light of day.  Or should I say the far too hot light of day? 
 

This Year of Fire
by A.J. Ponder

This year is sorrow as the flowers bloom

the blush of petals flawed with pockmark trails

clutch withered seedpods and fade all too soon

before they fall into the wailing wind -

tears blown against the murky sky, the year

bruised dull grey and faded in its sorrow 

as the sun beats down in heated fear

past all boiling point, sublimed snow and fire -

an endless rage against an endless year.

Now we must bring a cool change, a frost bite,

a deadly drowning lest we persevere

with hope.  Lest we dare fight the raging tide

and fall not with the solar wind and searing rain,

but hold an icy compress against this pain.

Fav's this week are Helen Rickerby's choice of Incident by Fleur Adcock, thanks Mary McCallum for putting me on to Alice Spider, by Janis Freegard,  Harvey Molloy's The Schoolboy by William Blake, and Robert Sullivan's New Eclipse, for Ralph Hotere.

cheers,
A.J. Ponder

P.S. If you love sonnets and want to read some more "Running Away with a Christmas Sonnet"  and "Sonnet to the Muse" are fun, and if you want to learn how to write a sonnet The The Poetically Incorrect English Sonnet is there to help (watch out for the bad language though! 

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.