Tag Archives: nature poems

Funnel #poem #poetry #nature #horror

Funnel

Sparrows navigate

through radioactive fog

Glossy brochures are selling the dream

Ornamental trees placed sporadically

near coffee shops and phone stores

Unforgiving concrete

choked up the streams

but developers were still hungry

They swallowed the river

and spat out luxury homes

Newly paved roads funnel shiny cars

into a rat maze

Competing strangers mow lawns and try not to drown

in rain that burns

and mortgages that sit like cinderblocks

on heavy chests

Keep moving in the circle

Don’t stop working

Don’t breathe

Don’t ask questions

The banks want you to hold on tight

to their dream that stops

everything from singing

Image description – photograph of snowy forest of barren trees. In the center of the barren trees is one small, bright green tree.

The county where I live is becoming more and more overdeveloped. Each month, a new cluster of expensive houses, condos, and high rises appears. The amount of forestland and waterways that have been destroyed in the last ten years is astounding. The traffic is an ever-increasing nightmare, and the air isn’t fresh and crisp anymore. The haze of funk is spreading and thickening. It’s harder to breathe. There are shops everywhere but nothing good, or strange, or weird, or unusually fun, just phone stores, vape shops, coffee places, and chain restaurants- the same old thing up and down the main road.

Did we really need more of the same? Was this necessary? Was it a good idea? I guess it was for the banks and real estate developers, but there are so many other ways to increase revenue to a county or city. There were other options. One of the best options, of course not the most beneficial to developers, would have been to help the people who were struggling with employment and with home maintenance and with feeding their families- on a scope beyond just the basic crumbs that barely suffice. When people are able to do more than just barely survive, when they have hope, there’s prosperity within the community. I guess it’s just cheaper and easier to ignore the people who need help and ignore the people who could use a few steps up the ladder to lift themselves into better circumstances, and to build new, expensive homes instead.

The people living in those new, high-end homes have their own share of problems. Some live in constant fear of losing what they have so they spend their lives working but not living. Others have so much, they forget to see and care about the struggles that people below their income bracket face, and instead become the monsters that eat the rivers and pour concrete over the truth.

Spider Rain #poems #scarypoems #spiders #spooky

A creepy poem in honor of Halloween month

Spider Rain

Silk that seems

like angel’s wings

are spiders crawling in the darkness

Webs anchored in splayed hair

Summer raindrop memories are eight legged babies

descending

into satin sheets and draperies

Shadows keep secrets

from the morning sun

Image description: a picture of a large green and black spider climbing down its web in front of a window. The close-up photo shows the spider in detail, including the hair on its legs and the translucence of its green and black body.

For Halloween month, I will be sharing spooky, creepy, haunting, and strange but lovely poems, pictures, and posts throughout the next two weeks.

Profit and Bones #poem #poetry #greed #endforprofithealthcare

Profit and Bones

Bottomless thieves

keep the furnace fed

with our bankrupted bones

Each stolen dollar and death

is fuel for the profit flames

The corporations collect

while they destroy

Image description – photo shows a section of oak tree leaves that appear burnt. The burned looking leaves are enmeshed with a tall fir tree. The ground below looks dry and lifeless.

I’ve been thinking about the tragic train wreck that is the for-profit health insurance industry in the US, because how could I not? How could the fear of the worsening situation not weigh on my mind? The past few decades have seen health care become a luxury. Insurance companies make their profit by charging a ton and denying coverage for needed services. People survive on pain medication because surgery is too expensive. Medical care is put off because people fear the resulting bill, and for good reason. The for-profit health insurance industry bankrupts people, lowers quality of life, and shortens longevity. And it doesn’t even bother to apologize.

Health insurance CEOs and shareholders are raking in the profits by refusing to cover medical care wherever and however they can. Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies aren’t innocent either, with their ridiculous costs. The idea of medication existing but people not being able to access when they need to without losing one’s home or having to choose between food or medicine is not some horror movie subplot. We’re living in a dystopian nightmare brought to life by greed. Many politicians’ careers were funded by that greed.

Will the situation ever be resolved, or will each generation grow more accustomed to the worsening lack of access to affordable medical care? The suspense isn’t fun.

What the Trees Hide #poem #nature #peace #shortpoems

What the Trees Hide

Peace grows beneath the trees

that gave their leaves and limbs

to hide the seeds

of hope

from the searchlight moon

Image description- photograph is of the night sky. The moon is in the center of the photo and is surrounded by clouds and trees.