For the Beauty of the Earth

Poems from the CHILD-HEART About the Planet

N. Thomas Johnson-Medland, Glinda G. Johnson-Medland

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781630875954
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Literature & the Arts in Christianity

Having grown up in the shadow of the Bomb and having provided supportive care to post-Cold War generations of children and their parents (both in crisis), I have seen a lot of distrust and instability in people--individually and in communities. I have seen how the shadow of impending doom can rewrite a way that people live. This distrust and instability is not a personal issue. It is a sign and symptom of having lived in a time when the imagination can harbor not simply notions of tribal decay and destruction, but the decay and destruction of all tribes, in all places, and throughout all future time. We can wipe out everything that exists within the realm of our planet--in an instant. This changes who people are. This changes how people grow and develop. The current earth crisis is large. It looms overhead and in our homes. It is more visible and prevalent than the crisis of the Bomb. Everything we pick up and discard is a reminder that we have a problem. In many ways this crisis is more severe than the Bomb. In this crisis everyone has a button they can push to bring destruction. We have more madmen to worry about. Everyone. Everyone has an impact on global ecologic and climate issues.Here are poets' songs on the beauty of the earth, lest we forget.

Tom’s Poems

I Write An Earth That Is Dying

I write an earth that is dying.

Dying at our hand; which

makes it murder and not so

much just death.

I write an earth that is dying.

Unable to adapt fast enough

to the changes we are making

and not so much because it is time.

I write an earth that is dying.

Most will never claim their

part in starving her of life

and choking her on greed.

I write an earth that is dying.

And, I am to blame.

Beauty in an Ark of Love

I will gather for you
bunches and bunches
of dandelions and poppies;
so we can save the seeds
and keep them safe
against the wiles of the
changing climate -
against the wiles of
greedy mankind and
our hearts of stone and crude.

I will gather for you
arm-fulls of daffodil and tulip
bulbs, shoots and tubers
that will become shooting-stars
and anemones, snowdrops and
bleeding heart, ginger and ginseng.

I will find a way to keep fiddle-heads
from drying out, and lotus seeds
from being smashed to dust. I will
gather wintergreen and berries. I will
shelter them in a safe place for you.

I will pull them close,
nursing them on the warmth
of my body; on the love
in my heart. It is the least
I can do. It is what I must do—
to keep beauty in your lives.

It is what I must do—
to help you keep
the hope of springtime
blossoms vibrant in your
heart that you will not
languish parched
by our wanton inability to keep
ourselves from making carbon
footprints instead of traces of
our soles in dirt and mud.

I will store beauty in
an ark of love so you may
remember; so you can help
your children to learn
the simple way of flowers
in the awakening of a soul
in the growing of a...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Tom’s Introduction
• Glinda’s Introduction
• Tom’s Poems
• Glinda’s Poems
• Guest Poets—Haiku
• Guest Poets— Traditional and Free Verse