Australia was home to the first mammal species possibly made extinct due to recent climate change
Some ugly little rat may no more
pronk at the side of a coral cay.
We’ll plonk fuel in the 4WD
to take the kids to school,
and pick them up for soccer.
And after soccer, we’ll scoff beef
corralled in such convenient buns,
as we stay wrapped in bullish car.
And yes, oh yes, we will have fries.
Some ugly little rat is drowned —
we never learned to say its name.
Who would miss the melomys,
which even spell-check would despise?
Mere melanoma on far beach’s skin,
excised by surgeons of blunt bliss.
P.S. Cottier
great statement PS, and the list of labels after it is almost a poem in itself.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jill, I always try to tag either a new poem, or a counterpoint to the poem I have posted; I've been doing this on my own blog for some time.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting poem. I am not too sure about the cruel tone of voice in this. Is it meant to be so cold-hearted?
ReplyDeleteIt is intended to capture something of the cold-heartedness of our (meaning Australia's) policies on climate change, and our (meaning many Australians') total disregard of the worth of the natural world. Hence the tone of disgust at unthinking lives and mindless consumption, which are causing the conditions which result in extinction of creatures we may never think about, let alone see. The loss of any species is a tragedy, and representing the mindset that leads to such loss requires a poetry that is cruel, and therefore, it seems to me, truthful.
ReplyDeleteThe cruelty we inflict on the world needs to be enacted in a nasty poem, not obfuscated by an easy and palatable celebration of beauty. Sometimes, anyway.
It made me look up Bramble Cay melomys, thank you, Penelope. Mosaic tailed. How lovely. How very very sad.
ReplyDeleteYes, so sad indeed, Sarah. And while climate change is a world wide problem, Australia could be doing so more to cut emissions.
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