{"id":1648,"date":"2014-09-25T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T17:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2014-09-25T12:07:11","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T17:07:11","slug":"poem-a-strange-gift-from-smother-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/25\/poem-a-strange-gift-from-smother-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: A Strange Gift From Smother Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

I awoke<\/strong>
\nToo the rumble<\/strong>
\nOf a river of cars<\/strong>
\nGetting the goods<\/strong>
\nBeing trucked over and over<\/strong>
\nAs fuming motorists<\/strong>
\nAnd fuelish consumers<\/strong>
\nWhirled wide<\/strong>
\nTank up<\/strong>
\nWith great import<\/strong>
\nAs their gauges reach emptily<\/strong>
\nA diction<\/strong>
\nBeyond words<\/strong>
\nFeeding this uneconomic engine<\/strong>
\nInternally combusting<\/strong>
\nA humanity greased<\/strong>
\nPlunged into a vain artery<\/strong>
\nSo so leading<\/strong>
\nTo an err tight garage sail<\/strong>
\nN’air to see O2<\/sub> again<\/strong>
\nOnly lust C’ing a singular “O!”<\/strong>
\nTo be<\/strong>
\nFallowed buy<\/strong>
\nCryptic silence<\/strong>
\nAs nature returns<\/strong>
\nA strange gift from smother earth<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem was inspired by awaking to the rumble of cars and trucks from I-75 about a mile from my house.\u00a0 I am quite familiar with this noise pollution, a steady hum 24\/7, though I usually only take notice of it at night or in the morning while lying in bed.\u00a0 Noise (and light) pollution are on my short list of pet peeves and everyday side effects\u00a0of so-called civilization.\u00a0 However, this poem meditates on the constant stream of air pollution and inevitable environmental destruction from a carbon-based energy economy and transportation system.\u00a0 The congested arteries of our highways and buy ways consternate both motorists and Mother Earth — not to mention pedestrians and bicyclists.\u00a0 This poem also alludes to the military shenanigans (as we “tank up”) needed to assure a steady supply of a crude lifestyle.\u00a0 The addiction to petroleum leads us to morally depraved measures of success, such as the accepted norm that destroying the environment is part and parcel to a good economy.\u00a0 Such insanity brings to mind the wise aphorism: don’t shit where you eat.\u00a0 The metaphor of drowning in our own waste is incarnated in this poem as\u00a0the suicide of exhausted and fuming motorists in their garages, the final resting place of going nowhere fast.\u00a0 This poem requires a certain knowledge of chemistry to be fully comprehended, specifically the chemical structure of carbon monoxide.\u00a0 If you also know that carbon monoxide preferentially binds, in place of oxygen, on hemoglobin, then you can more fully appreciate the breathtaking nature of this poem.\u00a0 The feedback of nature is neither random nor mean-spirited.\u00a0 Nonetheless, if humans insist on living in unsustainable ways, then nature will weed us out or prune us down to size.\u00a0 Perhaps this is poetic justice for smother earth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I awoke Too the rumble Of a river of cars Getting the goods Being trucked over and over As fuming motorists And fuelish consumers Whirled wide Tank up With great import As their gauges reach emptily A diction Beyond words … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[405,105,577,116,481,219,608,305,495,402,359,625,187,438,155,643,379,658,291,381,94,641,131,470,453,515],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-addiction","tag-crude","tag-economic","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-environmental","tag-gift","tag-humanity","tag-insanity","tag-justice","tag-life","tag-lifestyle","tag-military","tag-mind","tag-moral","tag-mother-earth","tag-nature","tag-poems","tag-poet","tag-poetic-justice","tag-poetry","tag-pollution","tag-silence","tag-success","tag-suicide","tag-sustainable"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: A Strange Gift From Smother Earth | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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