For Amitav Ghosh
1
Peel the pale, brown flesh
Hold the cracked shell to your ear:
Screams of the Banda
2
Escaping Earth’s hold,
Unmanned rockets race to claim
Living space on Mars.
3
My compass shivers
While Antarctica loses ice
Shifting the North Pole
4
In Siberia,
A crater’s jaw swallows hills—
A black hole to hell.
5
From blue to yellow
The mighty Mississippi
Changes her make-up
6
With King Tides reigning,
Humvees drown in parking lots
On Miami Beach
7
Along Hellshire’s coast
The Carib Sea has reclaimed
Terra nullius
8
Like incense, prayers rise
From our once sacred rivers—
From Oshun’s children.
About the Poem
Colonialism, fundamentalist Christianity, and vulture capitalism have played an important part in the destruction of the planet because they have denigrated other religions and cultures that see the Earth as a form of consciousness. Poets, writers, artists, and philosophers need to be a part of changing our collective ideas about how we view climate disruption
About the Author
Geoffrey Philp is the author of five books of poetry, two collections of short stories, three children’s books, and two novels. His next collection of poems, Archipelagos (Peepal Tree Press), uses Amitav Ghosh’s paradigm to explore the connection between colonialism, vulture capitalism, and fundamentalist Christianity in the Anthropocene era.
A powerful poem that brings home the impending disaster of climate change (already in progress). Verse 7-Along Hellshire’s coast, makes it personal for me.