We have heard
and noted your cries
for help. Un
fortunate
ly our sovereign borders
are currently closed.
We fear that
we must turn away
from any
images
of drowning, freezing, starving.
They disturb our sleep.
But we are
not completely heart
less. We will
send you our
Condolences, as well as
our Thoughts and Prayers.
For earthweal, where Sherry, after bringing us up to date on the flooding in her Canadian homeland, asked us to write Verse Letters: a form of address, akin to dramatic monologue, to all parties involved – letters to the lost, perhaps; to those who caused the extinction; or to those of us who are in the middle.
K. 
This is a much needed timely poem… really unbelievable… what will happen if millions of climate refugees join this line of despair?
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Thanks. I fear that day has already arrived. Many are still homeless due to floods and fires in the United States–and all over the world.
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so profound, it is indeed overwhelming for us as spectators, I can’t begin to imagine how it is to live it …
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Thanks Kate. We may all know soon enough if we don’t do something about climate change.
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hmmm what a prospect, I have been a greenie from birth, minimising waste, living off-grid, no vehicle for years … not sure I can do much more!
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I think you are doing quite a bit, especially with your positivity.
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how very kind thanks Kerfe!
I do my utmost to live in harmony/ in balance 🙂
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Shocking, but my heart breaks because the condolences etc. are socwhat really happens. Just horrifying.
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Yes, the same old platitudes seem to be our response to every crisis. Thanks.
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I find it disgusting how a boat full of human beings can overturn in the Channel, drowning them all, and our news media refers to them as ‘migrants’ as though they were a social nuisance, and not suffering human beings. We could all be climate refugees soon. Your words resonate.
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Thanks Ingrid. That is so true. We will only try to find a solution when we become refugees too. And of course then it will be too late.
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yes, that about sums things up: prayers and condolences as just another means of othering people…
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Exactly.
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That ending is so true. UGH!. Your painting is very powerful, too.
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Thanks Merril. It applies to most of the problems facing us I think, not just that of refugees.
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Oh, this is says it so well. Thoughts and prayers……..and nothing changes. Your painting is wonderful, too.
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Thanks Sherry. Our politicians have plenty of Thoughts and Prayers, but little else.
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A poignant reflection of the robotic thought processes of ALL those who have made themselves leaders over us… carving up the Earth into their own personal thiefdoms… birds… fish… and insects, to name a few, are the only creatures that can rightly call the Whole Earth home… we… the so called higher species on the planet have been reduced to mere serfs to the World Splinterers who rule…
🇯🇲
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So true. We have made the borders. All artificial.
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That is the brutality of the moment, almost world wide. But maybe the USA is the one with the insincere condolences?
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Those platitudes are right from the mouths of our American leaders. They find them suitable for every occasion.
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Beautiful song, haven’t heard it yet. Important words too. So few ever tell them.
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Thanks Manja. We try not to see it. But we must look, if we are ever to find a solution.
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Indeed… All artificial…
🇯🇲🏖️
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Poetry used so well here to call out apathy and re-humanize people whose suffering is ignored and even amplified. Great work. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks Isobel.
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Borders of nations most at fault for climate change will grow more militant against the influx of climate refugees. The letter as verse address works well for crossing them and letting voices speak. As poets, our job is to tune those voices in and hear them, even if by broadcasting them by broken means (who reads poetry?) is one of the mundane exercises of the century. Your image shrieks wildly.
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Thanks Brendan. Poetry these days seems to be preaching to the converted. It was not always so though. My grandparents, neither of whom went to school beyond 8th grade, loved poetry and could quote it at length.
As to taking responsibility for the damage we have wrought all over the world…
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Words going right to the point, cutting deep. If we don’t want climate refugees we ought to stop provoking climate change. But we won’t. It’s our right to despoil and waste.
The image is a powerful one too. I see hopeless people but the olive green lines, like a cage, or hands, I can’t make out what it symbolises. Not help and compassion though.
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Thanks Jane. Yes, we should not take their resources, turn their countries into wastelands, and corrupt their governments and then act like it’s not our problem. We are reaping what we have sown.
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We would be if we let them in. So far, we’re all still in denial. It’ll come though. Sheer weight of numbers.
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Your painting is very good. All of us have to rethink our lives or pay the price.
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Thanks Rall. That is true. All of us.
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