1. |
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The Ghost Orchid was classified as extinct - until a single plant was rediscovered in 2009… Reason for decline - loss of beech wood habitat.
In the clutter and choke
the gutters and poke
a plan is alive
to bring back hives
in the city.
Flowers will splurge
in the hedge and the verge,
they will blaze –
but the earth is depleted
the plant roots defeated.
We are phased –
In the clutter and choke
the gutters and poke
a plan is alive
to bring back hives
in the city.
the planet is frying
species are dying
as fast as we act.
The beech-wood was needed,
built on and weeded.
The odds are stacked
against.
In the clutter and choke
the gutters and poke
a plan is alive
to bring back hives
in the city.
But here come
the bees. They hum
all around ̶
flying intrepid
to where the ghost orchids
were found.
In the clutter and choke
the gutters and poke
a plan is alive
to bring back hives
in the city.
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2. |
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Gaia Calling
I was once on fire.
My oceans were gas
and the C-O-2 you’re all
now obsessed with was thick
in the searing air. It dwarfed
your measly 4-0-9. Watching
what you do now I don’t despair.
Even if humanity’s wiped out
I’ll celebrate turning
my 5 billionth year.
Humanity Calling
So this is it.
And all of us are on it,
an almost perfect sphere
floating in a black void.
Scale’s impossible to tell
as we tip and tilt, cling
to hemmed cities
and poisoned fields.
We’re nearly finished –
unless we change.
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3. |
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Decades ago we played in sunlight,
rolled glass across concrete, didn’t worry
if it cracked. From space the earth
appears a marble, so small it can be blotted
out by a man holding up a thumb. It’s an orb
absorbing dents, fires, footprints and garbage
filled oceans. The ozone’s a shawl, gnawed
by maggots, believing they can escape to Mars.
In our hands
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4. |
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Cool, clear water
still gushes from the tap ̶
I wash hot, dry
hands wondering how long I’ll wake
to green fields. The faeries of childhood
bleach among bluebells,
as in my homeland
ten thousand miles away.
Beyond the window,
trees gasp as I breathe in.
Ground bakes ̶ my body and blood
drawn towards the arteries of the earth.
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5. |
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It's her birthday
She’s watching people buzz about tents,
find food to cook, try to wash and hang
out laundry. Some children stay close
to the camp fire. She tugs a necklace
of shells; Nana collected them as currency ̶ before the roaring swept every crevice.
The waves took homes and hopes. Swallowed
them, spat out dregs, Nana and Dada hurricane
scum. She and Mama were held, protected
by palm trees. But there is no climbing here.
Clouds darken, and empty shells no longer
lift her heart. She wishes to be in heaven.
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6. |
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We’ll miss murmurations swirling against arctic skies,
Hump-back whales, black swans, swimming,
and seaside piers.
Waves that lap at a boat’s hull, a boats hull
The crackle of barrier reefs.
The Dead Sea.
We’ll long to travel across the globe, driving reliable cars,
Shop ‘til we drop
Take medicines that once saved lives.
We’ll grieve for the tap of a wasp, the tap of a wasp on glass,
Cut grass, leaves and stillness,
Breaths we took without inhalers,
The Gulf Stream,
The crackle of barrier reefs.
The Dead Sea.
Rodents hiding in burrows,
Creatures who smelt C-O-2 rising,
While humans couldn’t.
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7. |
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The sea’s rising, land’s disappearing.
I’m in a race to pack memories,
Fatele dance moves, the vivid Sulu,
The Maneapa where villagers met.
I make a new home
among bigger roads, cars buildings,
hope love for one another survives.
self-seeded cleavers,
poppy, horsetail, strung bamboo, aquadulce
In mud a man toppled, was forgotten, overtaken by weeds.
hope love for one another survives.
In mud a man toppled, was forgotten, overtaken by weeds.
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8. |
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You still have a chance; so see me.
You still have a chance; so see me.
Permafrost rots, forest fires burn,
rain pours and temperatures soar.
Study my extremes,
Study my rage, and learn.
You still have a chance; so feel me.
You still have a chance; so feel me.
Pause.
Tread carefully with bare feet.
Be touched by the loss of diversity.
Ask who will be left
to write your obituary?
You still have a chance; so taste me.
You still have a chance; so taste me.
The waters I filter, the food I supply
the bitter tang in your mouth
as you reach for my skies, and breathe me.
as you reach for my skies, and breathe me.
You still have a chance: so smell me.
You still have a chance: so smell me.
My wounds that won’t heal, my gangrene.
Can you catch the scent of danger?
Muffled by the blanket in which
you’ve clad me.
You still have a chance; so hear me.
You still have a chance; so hear me.
This is a plea from your resource, your host,
your ally if you choose. What will be your legacy?
Petrified promises and empty boasts?
Petrified promises and empty boasts?
I am listening. You still have a chance
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9. |
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Blistered skins of fishermen
run across a desert,
boats lie tethered on parched earth,
boats lie tethered on parched earth,
Blistered skins of fishermen
run across a desert,
boats lie tethered on parched earth,
boats lie tethered on parched earth,
We have no choice but pray for rain
and dream we’ll find a trickle
leading to a river flowing
leading to a river flowing
We have no choice but pray for rain
and dream we’ll find a trickle
leading to a river flowing
leading to a river flowing
Leading to a river flowing
with more fish than plastic
Leading to a river flowing
with more fish than plastic
We have no choice but pray for rain
and dream we’ll find a trickle
leading to a river flowing
with more fish than plastic
Blistered skins of fishermen
run across a desert,
boats lie tethered on parched earth,
boats lie tethered on parched earth,
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10. |
Nudes - Pierced Hearts
02:43
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Watching the people
Watching the people
Buzz about the camps
Find food
Looking for Children hiding in the tents
She tugs a necklace
That Nana made for her
Before the roar took everything she adored
Pierced heart
Pierced Heart
Watching the people
Watching the people
Buzz about the camps
This is the the dregs of the hurricane
Left when it swept
Climb the palm trees
Water to your knees
Mum and Dad protect
Dark Clouds, Empty Shells
Heaven's all that's left
Pierced heart
Pierced Heart
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11. |
Tremoans - One Drop
01:48
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One Drop
We scan the sagging sky,
the curdled clouds, heavy
and sodden as sandbags
that no longer stem the tide.
Hunching homeward against
the storm, faces stung,
we feared the urgent rain
would never stop, and longed
for sun.
Now, in rinsed air,
this one bewitching moment:
of a single raindrop.
One Drop
A sphere
of light and dark, sky and shadow,
suspended on a summer leaf,
and fragile
as a planet.
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12. |
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This sea,
these wrasse,
that oarweed,
this granite,
mussels, a crab,
sand and salt, this,
this floating heaven.
A starfish feeds,
filters, feels its way.
Almost naked
I propel forward
at one, at peace,
in this vast soup,
this liquid being.
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13. |
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It’s early, and we’re strolling
in lush greenery where crickets
tick, and bright parrots chat.
Paradise sings as crystal mist
drips promise of fresh growth,
when a growling sound fills
the forest. We freeze ̶ wait
for the beast to strike.
Metallic teeth crunch through
new life. We choke on sawdust.
Dead-wood smoke clings to skin.
On this desolate path
from where we scream, 'STOP'
there’s no hiding place.
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