Let’s see
Take the biggest batch of billionaire’s ever
Add the greatest expansion of sweat factories of all time
Stir in billions of small farmers
(the backbone of civilization for 9 millennia)
Undercut on world markets by huge subsidized agro-industries
Energize by petro-based nitrates, phosphates, pesticides and herbicides
Cook thoroughly in CO2 enhanced atmosphere
Bring the whole concoction to a boil
Melt glaciers, brown forests, spread desert, eliminate coral reefs
Swirl sea centers with vortices of plastic
While allowing population to burgeon
Baste with invasive species, toxic waste, pollution, war and terrorism
                                                     until the whole dish bubbles globally over
Serve with small imperial toasts and the natural juices.

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.