giant hairy foot space monkey

California is the most polluted state in the U.S. There are NO animals, NO human or plants. I felt like I was on another planet and I needed to wear a space suit! I could only imagine there where clean plants, clean air and water. I bet ...   2 years later, I'm in a hospital. I woke up .Wha ... where am I? Someone said I almost died! What are you? A giant hairy foot space monkey!

-Erin M.

Things past

In a time before
Life lived here
Birds and flowers
trees and fish

Then the waste flowed in
Excess from the humans

Once clear ponds and streams
now a muddled brown
Debris scattered
floating

The grass is long since dead
unable to sustain
to grow

A dark cloud has descended
On the formerly wondrous place

Nothing lives here now
Except death
It's black shadow
consuming all.

My Serene Place

the tranquil lake lies deeply embedded within the mountains

on the shore is a parade of lights

the cool breeze

washing over my face

listening to the quiet voices of the lake

soothing melodies of light dance off the gentle waves in the comforting night

the dark energy mesmerizes all that stop to listen

breathe deeply

listen

let the power permeate your skin

natures' medicine is the cure to all ailments

invigorating emotion

feeling

peace

Promise to Zeus

The sheen on the water is mercurial

in more ways than one,

a cornflower film indicative of talc,

miniature clouds that catch on a wisp

with cilia-like hands that grasp

and grasp-

in avoidance of the waterboatman

passing through,

I imagine this is what Odysseus felt,

sweeping over the River Styx,

his breath held in his throat

and his lungs tight against the water’s movements,

there’s no ore but just a

glimmer of light,

a powdery layer that covers the lake,

holding small moments of wonder

under its glassy surface.

Today's prompt (for easier access)

What was once something, is now something else.

Describe a place you notice to be now polluted: how it is polluted, is it still visually aesthetic in an odd way? How do you imagine it if it weren't polluted anymore? Was there a time before the state of this place was altered? Relay this information to us with your corporeal experience.

Have fun with it-- even if your brain takes you in a direction that deviates from the prompt :)

Some Poems, Narrative & Lyric

Quiet
by Tony Hoagland
Prolonged exposure to death Has made my friend quieter. Now his nose is less like a hatchet And more like a snuffler. Flames don't erupt from his mouth anymore And life doesn't crack his thermometer. Instead of overthrowing the government He reads fly-fishing catalogues And takes photographs of water. An aphorist would say The horns of the steer have grown straighter. He has an older heart that beats younger. His Attila the Hun imitation Is not as good as it used to be. Everything else is better. Jet by Tony Hoagland Sometimes I wish I were still out on the back porch, drinking jet fuel with the boys, getting louder and louder as the empty cans drop out of our paws like booster rockets falling back to Earth and we soar up into the summer stars. Summer. The big sky river rushes overhead, bearing asteroids and mist, blind fish and old space suits with skeletons inside. On Earth, men celebrate their hairiness, and it is good, a way of letting life out of the box, uncapping the bottle to let the effervescence gush through the narrow, usually constricted neck. And now the crickets plug in their appliances in unison, and then the fireflies flash dots and dashes in the grass, like punctuation for the labyrinthine, untrue tales of sex someone is telling in the dark, though no one really hears. We gaze into the night as if remembering the bright unbroken planet we once came from, to which we will never be permitted to return. We are amazed how hurt we are. We would give anything for what we have.

The Journey
by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Winter's day

Freezing bones and frigid souls
in the winter cruel and cold
life survives the silent death
while slowly growing in earths depth

Teeming life is long since gone
but effervescent will keeps many strong
bright blue and white, deep black of night
my mind lays restless until dawns light

Fading Fall

Green fades
to lovely warm shades
of golden brown.
Yellow and red
blend into Autumn.

Leaves fall
with the mercury
drifting down
like snowflakes come to soon.

The warmth of summer departs
as the orange of fall takes over.
The chill begins
it's cold blue takes hold.

Winter's white will be coming soon.