Thank you so much for hosting another poetry challenge! I’m so excited to participate again this year. In this Poem I love the way you encourage us to transform the concept of sustainability. My poem ended up being me trying to deal with the toxic (and classist) “sustainability” notions that I was really into for a while:
Burn yourself out
on the quest for zero:
waste, pollution, culpability.
Run yourself ragged and raw to do
what can easily be done with
money.
Refuse the receipt at the grocery store
(“The BPAs in the receipt are harmful to your health.
Don’t worry, cashiers are common folk with hearty skin who are immune to the BPAs that your fragile zero-waste-perfumed skin absorb.”)
Drive yourself into the ground.
Count the microplastics in your laundry
(you can avoid them by purchasing this microplastic-catching bag that costs as much as half a week of groceries).
Be individualistically pure
or nothing.
Weep over the details and have a breakdown at the grocery checkout.
You are all SHOWING UP! Thank you so much! I'm going to take my time reading through these, but please know how grateful I am. What a beautiful community.
I'm always astounded by how a simple word can inspire something unexpected. This act felt like a prayer for me today, a homecoming to my body. Thank you.
Sustainability
In a little rural town,
there is a little rural church,
with neither stability nor sustainability.
But over and over
they beg again,
sustain, sustain, sustain.
And over and over
the pastor cries,
okay, okay, okay.
But nothing they do,
nor nothing they say,
demonstrates that they truly desire to sustain
her.
Sustainability can be
a two way
street.
In order for me
to sustain
you,
We must
sustain
each other.
In our work,
and our words.
In our actions,
and emotions.
In our daily interactions,
and our occasional confrontations,
If you do not sustain me,
I cannot sustain you.
You begged for stability and sustainability,
but nothing you do, nor nothing you say,
gives me hope
that you truly know,
the way.
Thank you so much for hosting another poetry challenge! I’m so excited to participate again this year. In this Poem I love the way you encourage us to transform the concept of sustainability. My poem ended up being me trying to deal with the toxic (and classist) “sustainability” notions that I was really into for a while:
Burn yourself out
on the quest for zero:
waste, pollution, culpability.
Run yourself ragged and raw to do
what can easily be done with
money.
Refuse the receipt at the grocery store
(“The BPAs in the receipt are harmful to your health.
Don’t worry, cashiers are common folk with hearty skin who are immune to the BPAs that your fragile zero-waste-perfumed skin absorb.”)
Drive yourself into the ground.
Count the microplastics in your laundry
(you can avoid them by purchasing this microplastic-catching bag that costs as much as half a week of groceries).
Be individualistically pure
or nothing.
Weep over the details and have a breakdown at the grocery checkout.
This
is
sustainability
Right?
You are all SHOWING UP! Thank you so much! I'm going to take my time reading through these, but please know how grateful I am. What a beautiful community.
Sustainability
I am
In pain
For
So long.
Years.
Yet
I am
Still
Here.
I am.
Sustainability
What can sustain
a car
driving on empty?
A balloon
two days after the party
bopping along
on the floor?
An incandescent bulb
flickering
its last 'goodbye'?
How do you refill
a soy sauce packet?
Or re-use
a pizza box
with cheese and grease
baked in?
I am unsustainable.
A spork -
inefficient for both meat
and soup.
Destined for frustration.
Sitting forever
with the one-ply napkin
and unopened pepper packet.
At least they
crumble in the rain
and return to the earth.
Sustainability
May I recognize,
May I honor,
May I cleave,
May I toil,
May I bear witness,
May I allow,
May I sustain.
Like a mother hen
Sustainability poised
Labouring for life
Sustainability-
Sustainability is digging your toes into the dirt
Rising up to your full height and saying...
I am here
I belong
I am good as I am
I am living proof of hope
I can stand my ground
In strength
With fierce love
To sustain
To do justice
To walk humbly
To love mercy
sustainability
the ability to sustain
sustain
why have we set the bar
so low?
to just sustain
the masses of people
overworked
Underpaid
unappreciated
the walking sustained
i pray for
speak for
and work for
thriving
not just among the wealthy
but throughout creation
a vibrant world
with beauty and color
a thriving people
with beauty and diversity
the people
being creators and
only then
sustaining each other
by caring
each for the other
especially across
small differences
a kinship of creation
that is worth sustaining
sustainability at it's highest level
I refrain from sustaining the pain in the world
but delight in green days and joyful ways
When we share hope and joy there is much to be gained
we resist and persist and sustain much good change.
S imple yet so hard to find
U nity with myself and nature
S he beckons to me,
T o lay down my burdens,
A nd embrace the unknown,
I hesitate, as always.
N ever diving in headfirst.
A cautious child
B irthed into a nervous adult.
I long to run into her arms,
L et her sustain me,
I fall to my knees,
T o mourn my disconnect,
Y et still, there is hope.
Acrostic called to me this morning, and sat down to type it here without giving myself time to hesitate/overthink.
I'm always astounded by how a simple word can inspire something unexpected. This act felt like a prayer for me today, a homecoming to my body. Thank you.
Sustainability
This body is somehow
alive
in ways I cannot always detect
breathing
beating
moving
being
remembering
to be
alive
when I forget
She doesn’t simply exist
but lives more
fully
than I sometimes care to
daring to feel
to hold
to be held
to ache
to observe
to long
to cry
to laugh
to dance in the wake of it all
Could it be
this is sustainability?
This body who is somehow staying
alive
in ways I cannot always detect
I took sustainability and tweaked it to simply be sustainable.
She Who Sustains
They are not sustainable.
These lives we have created,
Tragedies, injustice, the weight of the world at our fingertips.
They are not sustainable.
The lives we have curated,
Best face forward, true feelings filtered and softened.
How fortunate then are we to be able to turn to Creation,
She who sustains herself.
Her trees and lakes, rivers and rocks,
Always changing, yet remaining the same.
Renewed by the very cycle of the seasons,
Reclaiming that which is her own.
Inspiring, giving, and sustaining us so that we
Might sustain these lives yet another day.
https://themarvelousandthemundane.com/2023/05/01/she-who-sustains/
Sustainability is a difficult word,
It sounds too scientific,
Too technical,
Too impersonal.
What am I searching for is
Steadfast love
Strength and commitment
Solidarity and support
That last.
Maybe it is just a question of semantics after all?
So glad the poem a day is back!
Thank you for this challenge, Kaitlin!
Sustainability
Am I
using up
using out
resources my grandson
may need one day?
Am I even mindful
of those in need
here
today?
We don’t really
have limited resources.
Abundance is everywhere.
Right?
Unless we think
sustainability
is sustaining
a status quo.
Consuming more than enough,
not mindful of how it was made
or on whose backs
the labor was provided.
Taking what is not ours,
presuming it is
and convincing ourselves
it doesn’t matter.
Believing convenience
and desire
supersede
what (and who)
is being used
to bring us
what we want.
Staying quiet
while a stranger’s
air or water
is polluted
because it’s not
our problem.
I want my grandson
and his grandchildren
to have enough.
Maybe I need
to see
what I’m sustaining.
I want to upload a photo but will type instead…
Sustainability
Is taking time
Is knowing your worth
Is listening
To what surrounds, the ground beneath, from sky to earth
It’s making sure
It’s giving back
It’s being still
For when time is short, the noise, the rush, has faded into distant dreams
Like flowing waters
On keys of the piano tune
Foot pedal pressed to sustain
@RiverSong 2023