POISONED EARTH

By lila


We poison ourselves
So we do not have to feel
How we have poisoned the earth
We create a world view
Where nature is bad, out of control, needing to be tamed
So that we can justify destroying every square inch
Leaving nothing untouched

The vibrant green of the rolling hills
Where I like to walk so much
Rock outcroppings colored with lichen and paint
Humans' need to deface everything
Is evidenced here
"LSD & Shrooms/ Fuck Paintballers" and "Party
Hard Until You Can't" are sprayed in white on the gray weathered stone
Impossible to erase
Bits of broken beer bottles, old tires, tattered clothing
Litter the wood
We have left our mark
And will continue to destroy the native vegetation, animals, and people
To be replaced by our docile domesticated variety
We must taste victory
To want to continue plundering
The last few places of wildness

This small cluster of rocky outcroppings and green hills
Are now dotted with monitoring wells less than a month old
Someone wants to build here
It is clear
They will test the groundwater
To cover their ass in the case of lawsuit
And build their golf course in the sky
On top of the sacred lands, hidden springs, pictographs
Artwork of someone closer to the land
I understand the red man's pain at seeing the land devoured by
the white sickness,
Milky puss oozing like a festering sore out of urban cities into
the wild earth to tame and fetter it,
His distrust of this being who makes agreements
Always with one hand behind its back
Fingers crossed

I need this wild place to remember my roots
To remind me of my true nature
To remind me of life and my many-legged relations and ancestors,
the trees, shrubs, herbs, and grasses
To bathe my eyes in vibrant green, Tara's warmest hues
To bathe my soul in the love of my kin

When this is gone, I also will be gone

                                           Date: Fri, 18 Feb 94