10.08.2021

Haiku my Heart...Really, my Heart!

in an evening breeze
a heron trolls the tideline
beware! blackened fish!


I wish I could write a heartwarming haiku. One that make every reader feel loved and protected. But today my heart aches. I live in one of the five Gulf states, and I recall distinctly the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I saw pelicans sitting on the beach, covered in oil,  unable to fly, the oil on their bodies boiling in the hot sun. I saw birds eat oil covered fish because fish is what they eat, and they die. The oyster beds died. Beautiful living coral reefs died. And later, the death...scattered on the once beautiful beaches among the washed up tar balls. I can never forget. So today my heart is with those people and animals on those California beaches, dealing with this latest spill. Back then I wrote a poem about this problem, and I share it here today. 


GENTLY THEY TRAVEL

 She glides through the deepest waters
Her long sleek body shimmering in the muted light
Winding in and around the ancient coral - searching
Her keen eyes ever vigilant

 The baby swims beside her – watching and learning
His body a miniature duplicate of his mother
Twisting and turning in perfect unison
Gently they travel

 The ancestral spirits of the reef
Frozen in time
Whisper to them as they pass
Shhhhhh -  go safely

 Ahead     a large shadow looms
Mother slows - wary
Baby shrinks to umbra
Seeking protection under its mother


 The shadow moves - undulating with the water
A deadly danger this mother has never seen
Just dark water she cannot recognize as harmful
It moves with the rhythm of the current

 They travel forward - swimming into the murky shadow
The slime enters their bodies - infiltrates organs
Feeling it – confused - mother turns away with baby following
Too late - the damage is done

 It will take time
The baby will grow - but not flourish
Failing to thrive - he will suffer
Only to die and wash up on some lonely shore

 And mother – older and stronger - not understanding
May live to produce another
From memory teaching it to avoid murky slime
Unknowingly teaching it to consume oil contaminated fish

 And the drilling continues.

*** 

linked with love to
Haiku my Heart - Rebecca


Pray for our Planet
I am so against deep water drilling






 

17 comments:

  1. Oh my heart is aching with you ~ you express so creatively ~ wonderful haiku and poem ~ sadness of what humans do to other humans and the earth is so tragic ~ but unfortunately part of life ~ I want to save all ~ all I can do is wish well being for all ~ and sending you lots of love and healing energy ~ Xo

    Living in the moment,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  2. Here, dear Judie, we can speak the unspeakable and we can hold these words and images with you. My heart aches alongside yours. Thank you for naming this great loss and for your poetry and for your beautiful heart. I am so glad to be here with you. 🙏

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  3. Your poem has me in tears!! I brings back those awful images of so much suffering...all at the hand of humans. Tragic, trauma, one I will not forget.

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  4. Heartrending. Sometimes I despair of our species. Often I despair.

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  5. Heart rendering post today Judie.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog

    much❤love

    much❤love

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  6. It breaks my heart seeing the world getting polluted more and more... your haiku (and reactions) show me I am not the only one worried...

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  7. I say never, ever apologize for saying what needs to be said. If I did, I'd be apologizing all the time. It's rare for me to write anything heartwarming. Poetry allows me to bleed out as necessary. I appreciate your words about this difficult topic.

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  8. I've always thought that hypocrisy camouflaged under irrational comforting words is more damaging than painful truths. If we don't know what is happening, how can we do something about it? So, howl it high, sister. And let me join my outrage, my heartache, and my hope for justice to yours.

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  9. First - the haiku is so descriptive - i really like it. And then the poem - beautifully sad. I haven't been to those beaches in a long time, usually going more down the coast towards San Diego. I know the area well though and it saddens me that this has happened. Amazing poem. This time of year, we here in the mountains about an hour and a half away from Newport, Huntington Beach,...the way the sun sets at night we can actually see the sunset over the ocean and what appears to be so far away but still in the ocean oil rigs. All just tiny shapes from our viewpoint. Within a few weeks the ocean sunsets will again be visible from our mountains.

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  10. it is pure heartbreak the dangers we instill in this world and life we share. there is a chance for us as humans to choose balance, alternative energy, to move away from a life of consumerism, the list goes on and on. it seems many of us in the world are doing our part individually and are adamant that our governments take strong action to protect our natural world. it's a huge ask for some to give up their "lifestyle" for future generations. the heartbreak of feeling connected to all life and each other and absolutely without question wanting firm protections in place and sharing the world with those who only care about ingratiating themselves and frankly not giving a damn beyond their own gains and profits makes for an unsure future. sad that only as the extreme effects of climate change start effecting more and more people with droughts, flooding, "heat domes" and yes, oil spills-it becomes more difficult to refute the devastating effects of human over reach. my heart, prayers and actions join yours in protecting this exquisite earth we call home.

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  11. Thank you for taking time to share these words, both your Haiku and poem ...

    All the best Jan

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  12. Haiku don't have to be heartwarming to be effective. Yours works.

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  13. well you're talking about things close to my heart. its tough, but change is happening, still too slow all be it, but change is happening, we just need to keep plugging away at it. very well written!

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  15. I read this post your post so nice and very informative post thanks for sharing this post

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