30 May 2010

Rain in Paradise and a National Day of Mourning

Here in paradise -- our little green island in Puget Sound where the giant corporation has so far NOT been able to build the giant industrial dock to haul away the gravel -- things are okay.  We have hardly seen the sun, and our high temperature for May is about 56 degrees, but the trees are green.  We opened up our old hive (Beatrice) to see if the new queen we got 3 weeks ago had finally got out of her cage and she had... So she's up near the top of the hive where the bees are really active.  

I've been obsessed with the oil spill for a month. Posting the poem was interesting.  My old poetry teacher let me know it needs a lot more work and he's right, and yet a lot of people responded to the ranting version I posted. Sometimes a rant seems like the right form.

But if the oil is going to keep erupting from the sea floor all summer -- which seems horribly likely -- there's plenty of time to work on poetics.  There's time to organize protests, boycotts, and poetry readings.  A lot of folks seem to be using this as an opportunity to vent their rage, often well justified rage, at corporate power, oligarchy, and poor leadership.  Many demand more anger, from the citizenry, from the president, from the Congress. 

And yeah, it makes sense that people are angry.  If that means, let's change the law so BP is liable for $10 or $50 Billion in damages, let's do it.  Let's bring criminal charges against those responsible, Svanberg and Hayward and the corporate officers and the "company man" who needed the drilling to go faster and anyone else involved, and anyone who falsified records, ignored safety regulations, failed to perform oversight.  Send them to an especially uncomfortable penitentiary in the deep South, with no AC and really bad food.

But often people get angry because it's less painful than grieving.  And anger is a much more socially acceptable emotion than grief, especially for men.  My own feeling is much more like grief.  I don't so much want to hear public official expressing anger as to hear them grieving.  Rep. Charlie Melancon wept giving testimony in congress last week.  It was sad to me that he was working so hard not to give in to it.  Tears are appropriate.  I'd like to see all of Congress weeping together in their chambers.

Demonstrations are terrific.  Calls for prosecution; for sure. Sign those petitions, boycott BP and their associates.  But I want a national day of mourning for the Gulf of Mexico, all the creatures and all the land and all the people who won't survive or will have their lives devastated by this.  We'd not shop, not drive, not burn the lights, not spend a nickel.  Walk around your neighborhood.  Talk about what this means.  Talk about the reality of Peak Oil -- we haven't run out of oil, but the oil we get comes at a higher and higher cost.  Look at pictures of pelicans and manatees and dolpins and bluefin tuna and think about a planet without them.  Eat fruits and vegetables that grew near where you live. Drink tap water.  Weep with your friends.  Read to your kids.  Plant something beautiful in your yard or the vacant lot down the block.

There are some good pictures of today's protest in New Orleans up at the NOLA web site:
http://photos.nola.com/4500/gallery/oil_spill_protest_in_jackson_square_sunday_may_30_2010/index.html

Looks like it's raining down there too.