Poetry Forum

We’re Losing It

Is this the way it’s supposed to go?
Should I just shrug and say, ‘Don’t you know!’
As this life goes and takes its toll?
My bad luck is on a roll
The oxygen is getting thin
The moving walls are closing in
And now I’ve finally realised
That nothing matters in this life
We’re wiping out the butterfly
Still everyone can sleep at night
If God is dead, there is no sin
But what about the mess we’re in?
I am here to testify
That we are all about to die
But do you even want to know?
You just believe what you’ve been told
They won’t say this is the end
They want you to work and spend
This life, it’s the only one
This love, it’s all we’ve got
This world, it’s all there is…for us
We’re losing it.

The line, 'We're wiping out the butterfly' refers to the mass extinction that is taking place due to climate change. Whenever publications like The Guardian cover the story, they generally refer to the number of species that have fallen into extinction in the last decade, with the butterfly being the creature that has lost most varieties, due to its vulnerability.

The official prediction of UK government scientists as reported in The Guardian is that 50% of ALL animal species currently extant will fall into extinction within 50 years. The question we must ask ourselves is, are we one of the smallest, most resiliant animals on Earth, or one of the largest and most vulnerable, and even if we ARE still around in 50 Years, how depleted will our numbers be, how much longer will we have left and what will life be like for those fighting for survival?

The Fascist in me says we need a thinning anyway.

We've grown too large too quickly, I think a global catastrophe is unavoidable now. We have it coming, as it were.

Bombadil, what you say cannot be disputed, but the matter at hand is not a moral question of right and wrong, but the practical point that it is ourselves we should be worried about saving, not the planet or future generations. There has to be a raising of global awareness on the immediacy and severity of the problem, we must all act now to prolong our own lives, and preserve the quality of them. The time for procrastination has passed. The time for militancy is upon us.

I liked the poem.

I came across a school of though recently that is quite contraversial but nonetheless has an air of truth to it. It goes like this ...

The current arguement over the environment is redundant. The environment is everything and the interactions therein.

The whole environmental arguement cantres around preserving optimal conditions for our species to survive and would therefore appear to be totally introspective and species-centric. This seems to fly in the face of history and the 'natural' order of things. Life (and therefore the environment) will persist even after we have made ourselves extinct so the arguement is purely about arriving at (or returning to) conditions that perpetuate the survival of Homo-Sapien regardless of the impact we have as a species long term. In other words we seem not to be argueing for the environment but for our place in it when perhaps the natural state is for us to extinguish ourselves and not be in it.

Sorry, this is little to do with the poem (which I enjoyed) but I thought it might be fun to throw this into the discussion. It is interesting and thought provoking, isn't it.

SF

There is an activist among us....militancy against/for who? Which humans are expendible?

Matt, your poem has a little bit of the same magic Dylan's did. Politically motivated and all that. If't were mine, I'd start it at:

As this life goes and takes its toll,
My bad luck is on a roll...

That's just me though, good work...

-Caleb

SoundlessFall, the theory you speak of isn't really a theory at all, it is fact. But surely as humans we are naturally concerned with ourselves, the quality and longevity of our lives, and those of our loved ones.

It would assuredly be much better for every other species on Earth if we fell into extinction, but should that cause us to lay down and succumb to benefit the planet, or do we fight to preserve our existence?

For if we wish to perpetuate ourselves beyond the next few decades, drastic action is neccesary, but do we, the ordinary people, want to pay the price?

pseudonymous, the first two lines refer to the discussion I'm having with SoundlessFall. The question, Is there right or wrong in nature, or are they human concepts that have no meaning outside of the human mind?

I believe the latter, but am always prepared to ask, and face, the question. Thank You for your comments all the same.

Every human is expendable on a mass level.

When choosing which 4.5 billion of the 6 to wipe out, you can't afford to discriminate much....

1 in 8 would survive. But then, so may the planet.

Hi Matt

I have to say that I don't think this is a very effective environmental poem. It's far too 'tell' and not enough 'show'. I think you could improve it by giving more specific examples rather than going into 'rant mode'. You could expand on the butterfly aspect in the poem rather than in a postscript. All came across as rather simplistic I'm afraid.

Read a poem like Ted Hughes's The Black Rhino to see what can be done.

Also a bit concerned that you are using the forum as a soapbox. Let your poems do the talking.

Cam