NVN Thursday: Water, Water—Two Poems
“Monsoon Blues” by Geoffrey Philp and “Winter 2045” by Steve Deutsch
MONSOON BLUES
by Geoffrey Philp
Venice is sinking. So are Rotterdam, Bangkok and New York. But no place compares to Jakarta, the fastest-sinking megacity on the planet. Over the past 25 years, the hardest-hit areas of Indonesia’s capital have subsided more than 16 feet. The city has until 2030 to figure out a solution, experts say, or it will be too late to hold back the Java Sea. —Bloomberg, December 6, 2023
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Walking along Jalan Tebet Baru Timur where the East Tebet Sugar Plantation once sprawled across the delta on which modern Jakarta is built, cranes hover over a metropolis dotted with blue and black plastic water tanks. The air seems thicker, trapped between the glass and steel towers crisscrossing the city where water supplies wither under a blazing tropical sun, and the city's thirst drains the last drop from depleted reservoirs. While sea levels rise Jakarta waits for the rain in the Ring of Fire.
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Author’s Note: As coastal megacities like Jakarta sink under the combined weight of rapid development, rising seas, and unstable land subsidence, these converging forces spotlight the harsh realities of climate change threats facing our urban future.
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Geoffrey Philp, a Silver Musgrave Medal recipient, is the author of Archipelagos, a book of poems about climate change which was long-listed for the Laurel Prize. Philp’s Twelve Poems and a Story for Christmas retells the nativity story, transporting readers back to that holy night in a fresh yet traditional way. His poem “A Prayer for My Children” is featured on The Poetry Rail—an homage to 12 writers who shaped Miami's culture. He lives in Miami and is working on a children's book Marsha and the Mangroves.
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WINTER 2045
by Steve Deutsch
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We bought the corner place on Burroughs Street— I’m sure you know it— a stately two story built when the neighborhood was only good for grazing cows. It took two years of construction now that the summer restrictions are in force. We replaced the windows, added insulation and central air— two bathrooms and a kitchen. Only this week, we found our way to the attic. It’s a wonderland. Skis and snow shovels and sleds for children and adults. And in two huge chests clothing for a winter fashion show on an air-conditioned stage. It was cold here once— although the children refuse to believe it. It was cold here once— although I hardly remember. Ice hung from the trees— the snow so high we could barely open our back doors. My parents would go south for the winter— to Florida or coastal Carolina. To places first scorched then drowned— to places now as bare as the surface of the Moon.
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Steve Deutsch is poetry editor of Centered Magazine and is poet in residence at the Bellefonte Art Museum. Steve was nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. His chapbook Perhaps You Can was published in 2019 by Kelsay Press. His full length books Persistence of Memory; Going, Going, Gone; and Slipping Away were published by Kelsay. His book Brooklyn was awarded the Sinclair Poetry Prize from Evening Street Press and published in 2023.