Christina M. Ward

**Trigger warning, rape reference but only metaphorically speaking

Cornucopian Dream

It topples, crumbles
into soils that regret
to bear their yield.

We burn it, borrow it,
bend it and stake it,
box it,
ship it,
buy it,
but we cannot make it.

We cannot build minds
that know the end,
minds that know no want,
minds that know enough
must surely be
enough.

Abscission is approaching
and on her heels
is Winter.

She must be angry that we
have raped her Mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I earned my Bachelor of Science in environmental science, I have been told a “junk” degree, but it sure wasn’t, and isn’t, to me. I treasure my environmental education, and the liberal arts college I earned it from. It is difficult to hear people discredit science when it comes to Climate Change, something that YES is a naturally occurring event, but not at the RATE at which it is happening. Imagine you are driving a car toward a concrete barrier, and you are destined to hit that barrier. You are going 1 mph. Are you afraid? Probably not. Now imagine the same scenario, only you are going 100 mph. Completely different feeling, right? Well, the simplest way to explain Climate Change is to say that humans have sped up the natural process so much so that it is no longer safe, not for the earth, and not for all of its inhabitants.

My writing, if you are following it, is permeated with references to nature. I cannot help this. It, simply put, is part of who I am and often the core thought that births the poem. The preceding poem is addressing the burden I feel concerning our precious planet. It was written in 2008, but still touches  me. I hope that you can connect to the core purpose of it and that it touches you as well.

Christina Ward

A blog suggestion for my fellow earth lovers: https://ncnaturalist.wordpress.com/