As I am sure you know, progress HAS and IS occurring. Certain types of cancer now have high cure rates. But cancer is striking so often. When a loved one dies, it is hard to look at statistics. Our only hope is to clean up the environment, so that future generations will fare better. Stem-cell research is also vital. ~~ Sorry about the small font. You can enlarge it, but. . .oh, well. ~~ ?Be good to campaign against ads on poetry pages? Give us s o m e more room.
~~~~ Always, Yer Pea ~~~N~~ no mushrooms were hurt during the making of this poem...s m i l e...

Mushrooming {sic}
 
Wild for dank, the toadstool gets itself up
like a mushroom, rushes to claim ground
secret weapons sense  is ripe to be taken.
Fungi bivouac
in out-of-the-blue clusters,  
Caps down to hide the poison
they carry, good soldiers that they are.
Some are a shade of red that mimics orange,
only the orange sat out too long, and mold grabbed.
Picture overripe persimmon.   Picture flagging
geranium.   The little flower that is so easy to forget.  
Hue both tempts and alarms –  too near the apple a witch used to fool.
Toadstool a bit dull.  Probably the acid raining?   Poison
from plants such as those grinding out aluminum-plastic-cigarette boats-iron-Cheerios-dirt bikes-deodorant-ball bearings-tubes-bottles-flasks-cell phones-monitors-Cracker Jack-wire-body-oil-cards-stays-bows-tape-roof reindeer-potpourri-spy cameras-land phone bugs-lotto tickets-clown makeup-fax machines-bungee cords-pens-pins-wax-needles-bowls-nail art-hooks-hoops-Velcro-thongs-eyes-bookends-vibrators-ticklers-pucks-pads-Barbies-kewpies-Bette Boops-nets-cups–Kool Ade-cock rings-straighteners-curlers-conditioners-texturizers-thigh workers-Viagra-Cialis- stockings-caps-tees-lifts-signs-runningshoes-Prozac-labels-automatics-22s-38s-45s-hand grenades- land mines-satellites-SUVs-jeeps-planes-rotors-blades-studs-bling-neon-masks-petit fours, chains-purses-vases-stamps-fishnets-Rolexes-Timexes-ripoffs, Valium-blockers-breast pumps-belly rings, agitators-pacifiers. . . . .i.e.,
all the things
mushroom re "a process we assure you is completely safe."  "Toxic whatever buried or donated to some Third World maptack.   See Skull
and Crossbones.  See
your friendly lobbyist / Check with Senator X."
 
I knock them over – toadstools, I mean. Then I feel
guilty.  Maybe because I am.   Hurting myself and. . .all of Nature. . .children now and to come?  
Wish I could go back to being a child, stepping around ants
and consorting with elves.  Look, the elf is drawing
polka dots.   That one paints stripes.  Little doors and windows cute.
Notice the flowers in their boxes do not fade, wilt, spot,
or grow off the page.  Death doesn't knock.   Worker elves spirit away
poison remains.   Forget cells mushroom more.  Sicken, maim, and kill
the flowers that make our lives worthwhile.  Why?   Yet another friend
is being radiated due to an abomination I refuse to call
the big c.  Need to think Small.   Just another toadstool.
Topple in no time.  But how much do I contribute?   Burn
gas, electricity. . .energy harnessed the wrong way?   Stand by
and allow the god Profit to gorge, then spit-hurl-dump-spray
what It cannot or will not digest?     
A paper mill spewed so much poison-laden water, it thickened a fog
that stole eighteen men, women, children.  Pileup "massive."
Not a good way to die.  Oh, but survivors got dollars
and very long faces.   Mill stayed.
 
Not a long stretch to runaway cells, collapsed veins, and. . .mushroom cloud–. . . 



(c) Phyllis Jean Green,  August, 2006                                                                                       . . .