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Selected poems from Sustainable Notes
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This collection of poems comprises a series on sustainability - our planet, our culture
and our sanity. "Breath" looks at a fundamental
of human life - the importance of breathing. "Breakfast Odes"
is a Burns-inspired tribute to healthy and hearty breakfasts. "The Primates" takes a zoological look at the human
species in the third millennium and at their strange but characteristic behaviours. "Sustainable Note, 2008" offers
a commentary on the events of 2008, also referred to as the global economic turn-down.
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Japanese Breathing
When
you exhale you
breathe out and when you inhale
you breathe in. The first
always
follows the second
except when it is your last. The rhythm of breath –
a reminder
that life is
all in and then out. I slightly prefer
the exhales – they clear up and
freshen the mind – the
inhales get you all puffed up,
then leave
to join the exhales. You
get a billion
pairs in a life span – use them,
enjoy
them (you can’t save them).
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Breakfast
Odes I
Twice
risen, twice baked, crisp and warm and even,
Queen of butter melters, prince of preserve presenters,
An offering
to the gods, yet to my simple chompers;
A toast to toast! II
Warm froth of cow’s secretion, on sacred bed of bean
Vouchsafed
on Latin via, roasted, ground and filtered,
Aroma, taste and texture, with dusted grain of cane;
Viva Cappuccino! III
Unashamedly elitist, rising
over pale pretenders,
Humbled, rolled and twisted, thrice risen, proved and baked
To royally await the consummation,
flaked skin, moisted in;
Veins le Croissant! IV
Sphered in yellow flesh, blooded with vitamin,
Yin and yan of sweet and sour, in
nature’s neatest nest,
Sliced, segmented or squeezed, a succulent song for saliva;
Ó solé grapefruit! V
Humble grain of grass, harvested,
heaved and sheaved,
Rolled, split and madly milled, a profoundly primitive boil,
Earth’s salted staple set,
for heat, for love, for labour;
Porridge please!
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The Primates
We found them climbing trees,
swinging from vine
to vine
and calling each other across the branches.
They used to be chimpanzees,
apes, baboons and early
hominids, but now
they’re called human - after some evolutionary advances.
The trees they climb are
steel
and concrete, with mechanised and asphalt lines
which swing the apes between drinks, squabbles and lunches.
Their berries, nuts and honeybees
are found in cans and plastic wrappers and each
baboon must chase for
coins to make their jungle purchases.
And you know how to call a chimpanzee?
You need the number, area code,
and the right language,
then just dial on a cordless, satellite, monkey mobile.
These strange, communicating,
third-millennium tree dwellers,
who stay in touch, while climbing trees,
discussing families, scandals and
loyalties,
by calling each other across the branches.
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