It is true that the oceans are warming. Plastic 
Chokes the rivers, clogs the oceans, and 
Strangles all beings, including humans, who 
Made it in the first place.

The way the headline news tells it everyday,
You could think that this very Earth,
The ground of our being in the Cosmos, all of 
Its own accord, woke up yesterday and decided to cause
Mass extinctions, water pollution, all the while 
Pumping oil out of the ground, and 
Dredging the ocean floors for seaweed, and
Fish to make sticks that end up in the garbage.

The way the headlines tell it everyday, 
You would not be wrong to think the salmon just decided to 
Go farm themselves, abandoning the promise made with creation,
To vigorously swim and procreate upstream, while 
Feeding the bears and birds along the Way to spawning waters.

The way the headline news tells of climate crisis,
You would think the ancient forests made a pact with the
Metals, to make tools to clear-cut themselves and 
Their entangled plant, avian, and terrestrial relatives and so 
Make way for fast-growing, straight, monoculture trees, 
Beans, and animal feed, all for human consumption.

How come the headline news never says:
Oh, no!, Look what we have done with our 
Unexamined imperial and colonial inheritance!
We have continued taking, and taking, from the Earth,
And all its Beings, including our fellow humans, the
Black, Indigenous, and People of Color everywhere;
All the while inventing sustainability theories to 
Cover up our hunger for profits and libations for our
Inherited and cherished white supremacy.

How come the headline news never says:
Look at what our wealth and willful colonial amnesia
Has brought on to this beloved Earth?
Piles of garbage that we blame on the poor and hungry
Who haunt dumpsites to recycle a living from the used
Computers, clothes, cars, paper, and plastic, oh, plastic!!

How come the headline news never says:
The climate crisis is the inheritance of 
Western imperialism and colonialism, that we now blame 
on all humans, including those who live on less-than-a-dollar-a-day.

How come the headline news never says:
The climate crisis is the result of the West’s 
Attachment to imperial and colonial inheritance that cherishes 
Greed over people, land, rivers, oceans, air, and 
All beings on this holy land.

When we will hear those who inherited, and still 
profit from, the plundering of the Earth 
own up to their ill-begotten inheritance,
and the climate crisis it begot?

Decolonize the lying mouth,
Of climate crisis and other colonizing lies,
That co-opt others into owning the mess created by
Western imperial and colonial ways violently hammered 
Upon those people and cultures marked as 
Primitive and savage, including this beloved 
Earth, our ground of Being in the Cosmos.

NB: I highly recommend watching an outstanding documentary, Earthrise, by Emmannuel Vaughn-Lee of Emergence Magazine, on the Astronauts who took the iconic image accompanying this–and previous posts. And NASA’s recreation of how the picture was taken via this link: The Story Behind….