An ABC of Radical Ecology

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

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