there is no doubt about the destruction we are capable of, the damage we have done to our land, our animals, ourselves. two decades ago we were going to freeze death. I hope nature has an escape plan.

Where some will know drought others will know flooding. Where some will find famine, others will feast. This planet is a long way from being dead. Most humans, on the other hand, will be herded about as cheap and expendable labor for the wealthy who will always be able to position themselves in lavish luxury. Even if we become a people with one good eye between us, the fate of the world will never truly be in our hands. I love the stark and desperate images painted here, however. Your canvas, rife with a subdued horror. M.True

We been given the chance, and we've taken a mile. Now we must retreat and move forward at the same time, carefully threading our way into the next century without great harm to our planet and ourselves. We are beginning to see the light, but whether it is early enough, I don't know.

There will be much wringing of hands and prayers next decades, then I believe we will come through, a very changed people.

Ron

"Munching on freshly grilled heart and soul" ... I'm sure Eduard would agree, too. His famous response seems so appropriate.

still, amid the detritus and debris, in the wake of the armageddon-wrestling-match of mayhem, may we all not yet find time to ponder some answers to the perennial disallowed questions... may life yet count for something? May the sacrosanct remain inviolate? May the altruists yet hold forth on behalf of those less fortunate? Surely all was not for naught, as this nihilistic rant so relentlessly implies? Surely much that is or has been done has not been done in vain? If so, I shall gladly join the myriad silent who mass in good-willed protest, a mute reminder that there must surely yet remain a heroic impulse within the heart of humanity. A flame that will yet rise no matter what force, natural or unnatural, may seek to extinguish it. I stand up against a blank and blatant abdication to what some imagine as inevitable and say "Never" to those who advocate resigning themselves to this ignoble fate.

There seems to be a kind of misguided Pathetic Fallacy at the back of this diatribe that may even be strangely akin to the unwarranted blaming of the AIDS virus as divine blight on homosexual lifestyles by the Christian right-wing fanatics in the early 90s... assigning or attributing virtue or morality to destructive natural forces seems laughable, particularly when there are scientific reasons to suggest humanity is the source of much of the destructive forces that seem on the surface to have natural causes. Perhaps I am misreading your poem, Odin. I welcome your amendments.




Roger