Convenience and Greed
The two thieves between whom
We are nailed.
Shall we forgive them
Seeing they know exactly what they are doing?
Held high as cheap
Hoisted aloft as efficient
We got enarmoured
Denuded
Spat upon
Slapped
Our dignity dragged in oceans of crude
Our pride roasted on the fiery furnaces of oily companies
Convenience and Greed
The two thieves between whom
We are sacrificed.
We drown in mountains of plastic
As plastics swallow the world
Whales, crocs, hippos, and the tiny ones
Cattle, sheep, rabbits, goats, antelopes, and hapless kids
Feast on the sheets of their last suppers
And lie prostrate fed on fatal plastic lies
Postmortems denied
Funerals delayed
Hired mourners weeping tearless howls
Convenience and Greed
The two thieves between whom
We are trapped.
But here lies the deaf generation
Wedded to the catwalks of lies
Who denied the shouts from Mother Earth
Addicted to efficient destruction
Bedeviled by ease
Addicted to speed
A world on a mad dash to the tipping point
Roaring temperatures
Ragging floods
Maddening droughts
Desertified deserted lands
Oceanified polluted swamps
Convenience and Greed
The two thieves between whom
We refuse to be wrapped.
Eyes open, arms linked
We build the barricades
We hurl flaming passions
Together we refuse
Recycled jokes.
Together we demand
A sharp kick on plastic guts
A moment for erasing greed
A time to embrace the inconvenient
And save the children of Mother Earth
(Read at School of Ecology on Climate Change: Arts, Culture and Wellness
World Environment Day 2023). Illustration by Mike Asukwo