• Menu

    • Home
    • About Andy
    • Blog
    • Newsletter
    • Donate
    • Voter Information
    • Videos
    • Contact
  • Home
  • About Andy
  • Blog
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Voter Information
  • Videos
  • Contact
The Future of Channel Islands Beach, California
December 30, 2019

The Future of Channel Islands Beach, California

One can almost forget the future [1]
in a Pacific sunset’s wake,
forget how quickly placid waves turn brutal,
that waters are stubborn as facts, immune to prayer.

Whom do I ask to explain the difference between
desire and hunger? I came here to find solace
in whale-song, but the whales are starving;
science gives me reasons but not answers. [2]

We’ve built a condo empire in the shade of dunes:
What good to bequeath our children a rising sea?

We’ve measured ourselves against the Nasdaq
and Whitman, made a killing off the sale of tides
as a tonic for what ails us, lost sleep over
our poverty and our ignorance.

One can almost forget the future…

Darkness alights slowly here,
flapping its wings with unhurried confidence.
I can make out oil derricks wheezing like lungs
that won’t die, and hear a foghorn blow
like a shipwreck’s parting words:

“Lost souls pray for salvation as they drown
themselves. Or they don’t.

Life will feast on the ruins regardless.

Go home, dear poet.
There’s time yet to hold back the ocean…”

—

[1] The Pacific Institute estimates that, given a 4.6-foot rise in sea level, 16,000 people in Ventura County would be vulnerable to the impacts of a 100-year-flood event, a 120% increase over today:

Herberger, Matthew, et al. The Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the California Coast. California Climate Change Center, May 2009, https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sea-level-rise.pdf., p. 42

[2] Ferreira, Gabby. Gray Whales Are Dying along the West Coast, and Scientists Are Trying to Figure out Why. San Luis Obispo Tribune, 25 Apr. 2019, https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/california/article229646274.html.

(Visited 349 times, 1 visits today)
poetry
Share

America on the Brink  / poetry

You might also like

Free Time
February 26, 2023
My Poetry Manuscript Is Complete!
February 20, 2023
Ode to My Favorite Poetry Podcast, Now Featuring a Car Commercial
February 19, 2023

Leave A Reply


Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Search

  • Popular Posts

    • The Problem With the Proverb About Teaching a Man to Fish
    • Template Letters to Send the Board of Governors of the USPS
    • The Problem With DEI
    • The Dark Knight and Me: an Essay
    • Questions On Nike, Colin Kaepernick, and Corporate…
  • Recent Posts

    • The Easy Things in Climate Aren’t That Easy—or Enough
    • With a Grain of Salt
    • Free Time
    • My Poetry Manuscript Is Complete!
    • Ode to My Favorite Poetry Podcast, Now Featuring a Car Commercial
  • Blog Categories

    • America on the Brink
    • Be The Change
    • book review
    • brown
    • Business
    • Capital Good Fund
    • Certitude
    • Cycling
    • environment
    • featured
    • Huffington Post
    • micro credit
    • movie reviews
    • Musings
    • News
    • philosophy
    • poetry
    • Politics
    • Pragmatic Idealsim
    • Prose
    • Renewable Energy
    • Thesis
    • travel
    • TreeHugger Job
    • Uncategorized
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletter

    Check out my newsletter, Be The Change

    Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.



  • Get In Touch

    Contact Andy
  • My Goal

    My goal is to foster an economy that alleviates poverty, provides meaningful, sustainable and just jobs, and protects and restores the environment.
  • Sign Up!


© Copyright Andy Posner | Site design by RI Web Gurus