Lines on haste

A poem submitted for the 2024 Venie Holmgren Environmental Poetry Prize¹

Cars do it
Kids do it
Days do it
Childhood does it
Lives do it
Time does it.

There they all go,
speeding past,
dragged by momentum.
We’re in such a rush
to prove our importance;
stay busy, be seen.

Slow food and fashion?
Still fast.
A bit slower,
mountains erode,
continents drift,
the universe expands.

Once slow, faster now,
the species decline.
Tides, temperatures rise,
storms swell,
wildfires quicken,
floods flash.

But take a moment,
breathe.
Forget yourself—
remember Gaia.
Connect and belong;
help her stay strong.

1. I did not win, this year! Many thanks to Jessica Perini, Beck Wolski and Elly Belfort for their constant encouragement and thoughtful reading. Cover image by Catherin J Pascal Dunk 2024: photo shows 3 kinds of wattle/acacia and 2 kinds of hakea on a car seat; picked from roadwork remediation plantings at Lisarow/Ourimbah NSW in late winter. ↩︎