Global Warming is Hell to Pay
Global Warming
is hell to pay
for the greedy business
of self interest
And constant economic growth
is like a forest fire
that some don’t want to put out
________________
Hell, lets just burn the whole place down
and collect the insurance money
Let’s buy up some stock in the funeral business
Let’s pop a pill and make it all better
_________________
The hole in the ozone
is our debt to the devil
in this buy now pay later
new world disorder
where our lives are held hostage
by white collar bandits
who spin the earth like a trade commodity
who gamble our resources like they’re at the races
_________________
The hole grows as big
as their appetite for more
and we all get stuck with the bill
Floods, droughts, fires, and chaos
cancer, terrorism, and war
__________________
We all buy in to some degree
like it’s the only game in town
The greedy business of self interest
The business as usual American way
______________________
~ Colleen Redman
Post Notes: I had completely forgotten about this poem and found it recently while looking for something else. It was written sometime during the Bush administration after hearing his positive spin on global warming. More dVerse poets posting HERE.
September 20th, 2011 4:54 pm
…and by the time the powers-that-be pull their fingers out, hell will have frozen over…
September 20th, 2011 5:05 pm
And now they deny there even is such a thing, as if they can lie their way through life and change reality by saying something isn’t when it so obviously is. Great poem.
September 20th, 2011 5:06 pm
Only way the powers that be will ever do a friggin thing is if it directly affect them and even then they’ll be sure to make a profit.
September 20th, 2011 6:22 pm
Colleen- I can feel your emotion/anger throughout this piece… it packs a punch! We all need Prozac these days.
September 20th, 2011 6:26 pm
well you dont mind telling it like it is…i like that…itis self interst that fuels our country these days particularly those in power….
September 20th, 2011 8:22 pm
Collen, tell it like it is-good job!!!!!
September 20th, 2011 8:33 pm
This is a great poem and ought to be published so some of the politicians can read it.
I feel the same way about this poem as I did about the one you wrote about President Bush!!! Awesome. xo
September 20th, 2011 8:35 pm
oh hell, let’s not let facts get in the way – it’s only science. It may have been during Bush’s administration, but it doesn’t seem as though we’ve gained any ground. maybe people taking it to the streets isn’t far off…
September 20th, 2011 9:37 pm
Words are cheap. They need to invest in a dictionary and learn the meaning behind them. Great job.
Beth
September 21st, 2011 12:13 am
Wow what closing lines The business as usual the American way this is amazing and so true
http://gatelesspassage.com/2011/09/20/the-fait-of-our-lands/
September 21st, 2011 5:00 am
Thanks for this, colleen — you nailed the problem in the last stanza with “greedy self-interest,” that narcissistic, vain, devouring tyrant of self that eats everything because it is so empty inside. Great poem.
September 21st, 2011 10:05 am
Their brier politics are wrapping so carefully around the rosy thorns of religion – soon the only thing left of the bill of rights will be the right to bear arms if they are bearing them. We wondered how people could get sucked into being Nazis — this is how. Calculating propaganda for those who won’t think, or too greedy to care. Well done here. G.
September 21st, 2011 2:06 pm
Absolute truth Colleen, it is truly the only game in town and we are stuck playing it…. It has become just like normal business of the day, as if the greed stemming from expected profits is just business as usual. We can’t purchase anything or enter into any agreement now without having a legalese contract thrust upon the table, with the clear implication that once you sign it all of your rights immediately fly out the window, which incidentally is now owned by them as well. But don’t worry it’s just business as usual. Just one time I want to bring my own contract to the table, a concisely written paragraph politely explaining that if I should find that the “heretoforewith said seller” to be nothing more than a completely greedy d_ck, then the “afforementionned contract of insurmountable goading gull” should become null and void, I get all of my money back, and as a matter of penalty I get the option to wad up that “afforementionned contract of insurmountable goading gull” into a surprisingly large ball of twisted paper and shove it directly up their _sses. I might be a poor, indebted slob for the rest of my life but it will surely bring some conslolation to watch those b_st_rds limp around a little bit while I slave away to pay them their silver. Is it safe to say at this point that your poem elicits a certain amount of emotion in the reader? Of course I’m joking, a wonderful read, once again Colleen, and quite pertinent to the masses… great fun!
September 21st, 2011 2:15 pm
“The hole in the ozone
is our debt to the devil
in this buy now pay later
new world disorder”
wow Colleen..powerful, powerful words you have spun…and sadly all too true.
September 21st, 2011 6:43 pm
We do all buy in to some degree, truly said.
Always passionate, Colleen!
September 22nd, 2011 12:41 am
Great write. Like others, I really liked the emotion in this piece. Very much on point with such a subject and it still rings true indeed. Thanks for sharing.