NVN Tuesday: TOO HOT POEMS
SUMMER OF THE ELEMENTS 2023 by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS and THE OILIGARCHS by Buff Whitman-Bradley
SUMMER OF THE ELEMENTS 2023
by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS
a seething cauldron fire water drought of air and earth bitter flames birthing a dying cough of dust indifferent flooding arrid soil are you the voices boiling out of our restless anger our restless fear the restless grief of our barren and fractured hearts
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Sister Lou Ella has a master’s in theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is a former teacher and librarian. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a poet and writer. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, US Catholic, Commonweal, The Christian Century, Presence, Prism, and several anthologies. She was a Pushcart nominee in 2017 and 2020. Five poems from her book, she: robed and words, set to music by James Lee III were performed on May 11, 2021 as part of a concert held at Y92 in New York City. The group of songs is entitled “Chavah’s Daughters Speak.” Another concert was held in Cleveland, Ohio on March 28, 2023.
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THE OILIGARCHS
by Buff Whitman-Bradley
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We are living in deadly heat We are living in a climate inferno Growing in intensity season by season We are living in fire We are living in weather conditions Created by avarice and greed Created by the princes of petroleum The captains of capital We are witnessing temperatures soar We are witnessing our fellow humans Particularly the most vulnerable Expire of the extreme heat – People living on the streets With nowhere to escape the sun Elders with weakened immune systems Infants whose little bodies cannot cope The weather today: 110 degrees in Phoenix, 107 in Grand Junction 105 in Tulsa, 101 in Casper, No relief in sight When I was a young boy We lived near a greenhouse Where the neighborhood kids sometimes gathered On sub-zero winter days The embracing warmth The rich, organic stink of humus And manure and decomposing straw, The summer-in-winter just next door We knew why the heat couldn’t escape Up through those hundreds of glass panes We learned it in sixth-grade science: The greenhouse effect An exquisitely balanced system That lets just the right amount of heat out That keeps just the right amount of heat in That makes life on earth possible Now carbon emissions have thickened the glass To trap more heat To skew the ancient equilibrium To weaponize the weather We have protested outside office buildings We have blockaded refinery entrances We have ranted and chanted and invoked the future To change the hearts and minds of the oiligarchs To remind them of sixth-grade science To remind them of the delicate balance To demand that they cease and desist But they won’t stop, won’t stop, won’t… stop…
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Buff Whitman-Bradley’s latest book is And What Will We Sing? (Kelsay Books). He podcasts at thirdactpoems.podbean.com and lives with his wife Cynthia in northern California.