Christian Seebauer, “Flamingo mother and cub in the oil spill”
I haven’t run a Scott Bates poem for a while so here’s an environmental warning that ends his collection The ABC of Radical Ecology. He entitles the poem “Appalog” instead of “Epilogue,” perhaps because the reality he describes is appalling. A light verse treatment of serious subjects, however, is sometimes just the spur we need to remind ourselves to keep fighting.
Appalog
By Scott Bates
A is for Auto
exhausting the Air
B is for Bottle
just thrown anywhere
C is for Can
by the side of the road
D is for Dump
that has overflowed
E is Environment
filling up fast
F is for Factory
having a blast
G is for Garbage
and Goo Glop and Gunk
H is for How
to get rid of the junk
I is for Industry
cutting back costs
J is for Jets
with jet-black exhausts
K is for Kook
who is Kooked in his juice
L is for Litterbug
Louse on the Loose
M is for Money
Made with Might and Main
N is for Nature
going down the drain
O is for Oil
Oozing Out on the seas
P is for People
breeding like fleas
Q is for Quagmires
formerly lakes
R is for Robins
with stomach aches
S is for Smog
that swallows us whole
T is Technology
out of conrol
U is Uranium
dug up in haste
V is for Victims
of nuclear waste
W is the World
at the end of its tether
X is what we’ll be
if we don’t get together
Y is for You
with a capital YES
Z eroing in
to clean up the mess!
A note on the artist: Christian Seebauer’s painting of the Gulf oil spill can be found at www.seebauers-world.de/oilspill_en.php?PHPSESSID=nc2qaddocn6s2eu0ltcu07mjm5
2 Comments
Thank you, Robin! I always enjoy your father’s poetry!
Good Morning Mr. Bates,
Love this poem, and yes it is good to read a poem of your father’s. Tell him I said hello. It would be nice if this poem was in every rest area on the interstates, and tourist information centers.
Good Day-