I seem to have fallen into a pattern, that repeats.
Wake up. Feel alright.
Get on with work. The day.
Check the news. Catch up on messages.
Work meeting.
Activist meeting.
Cognitive dissonance EXPLOSION.

Try again. To engage with people.
At work – they don’t get it.
Grief builds. Rage builds.
Go for a walk.
Sit in the church yard.
Wonder when the fields.
Will burn. Or flood.
Or freeze.

A blackbird brings temporary reprieve.
Temporary solace in nature.
The trees. Birds. Insects. Deer.
Then more grief. For them.
For the dog walker.
For kids. In the playground.
For us.

Back to work.
More meetings. More dissonance.
Try again. Mostly silence.
Or embarrassment.
No realisation of what their kids.
Are facing.
What they.
Are facing.
The game. Is up.

They admit. It’s bad.
Then back to holidays. Flights.
AI. TV shows. Shoes.
Buying stuff they want.
But don’t need.
Maybe they can’t connect. Emotionally.
Maybe to do so.
Would crumple something.
Their raison d’etre.
Their fragile purpose.
Their faith in systems. Order. Continuity.
In the future.
All fucked. Collapsed.

Keep on. Keeping on.
Try to conform. To work hard.
To deliver.
To help colleagues. Friends.
Work is, after all, a community.
We lack community.
We need community.
We have destroyed. Community.
Lockdown. The Internet. Nuclear families.
Social Media. The Media. Politicians.
Billionaires. Marketing. Us.
They have destroyed. Community.
We let them.

Finish work.
Although it still goes on.
In my head. The list.
The to do’s. I’ve not done.
Next up. Planning meeting. Action.
People that get it.
That are awake.
The tired eyes. The Grief.
The Rage. The Hope.
That we can still make a difference.
But even if we can’t.
We’ll try.
Because that’s all that’s left.
Trying. In that we find.
Sanity.

More plans. Ideas. Analysis.
Sizzling vibes.
Maybe this could work.
Make a difference.
Wake them up.
Make them see. Connect.
With all their being.
Make them feel. What we feel.
Break the pattern. The mould.
Maybe. They are ready now.
After the heat. The drought.
The fires. The floods.
The harvest gone bad. The deaths.
After. Nepal. The flash flood. The carnage.

Again. I underestimate.
The establishment. The vested. Interests.
Fossil fuel. Lobbyists.
The media, the billionaires.
The politicians, drunk in Westminster.
The corporations. The money. The power.
Corruption. Greed. Hate.
Lady Justice.
Has been blinded.
Gagged.
Violated.

A council meeting.
I go along. Hopeful.
Maybe they’ll listen. This time.
I tried the system. Elected. Councillor.
Tried. To make a difference.
Barriers. Bureaucracy. Semantics. POLITICS.
Pettiness. Sniping. Divisiveness.
Nothing the public.
Would care about.
But stopping anything. Radical.
Anything. Not normal.
Anything needed.
That would rock. The boat.
Which is sinking.

Home. My cat. Unconditional.
Unless I withhold. Treats.
They see, in the dark.
But. Can stand on your face.
While you sleep.
Sofa. Wine. TV.
Anaesthetic. To a failing world.
To the grief. The anger.
The ignorance. The arrogance.
The patriarchy. The old men.
Who greedily grasp power.
Whilst we burn. Suffocate. Starve.

I am hungry. For unity.
For love. For nature. For water.
For soil. For plants. For people.
For community. For care.
For change that means something.
For action that does something.
For systems that work.
For people.
Not power.
For a future. For children.
And.
For me. For us. For all life.

Sleep comes.
Sometimes in bed.
Sometimes the sofa.
Broken dreams. Conflict.
Anxiety expressed.
Lost. Burdened by luggage.
Whilst fleeing.
Mountain passes. Fields.
Tents. Many people I know.
Fighting. I evade. But have nothing.
No weapon. No strength left.
In my legs.
I just exist. Hide. Try to help.
Whilst it all.
Dies.
Guilt.

I awake. A new day.
The pattern repeats.
More grief. More rage.
More sparks. Of hope.
More news. More lies.
Corruption. Greed. Fallacies.
More worship.
Of false idols.
We sacrifice. Ourselves.
Our children.
The future.
On the altar of capitalism.
Of unfettered growth.
Of Trump. Putin. Netanyahu. Modi. Farage. Musk. Zuckerberg. Bezos.
Murdoch. Thiel. Altman. bin Salman.
Oh. Look. All men.

More news. More floods.
More drought. More fire.
More war. More death.
More atrocity. More genocide.
In Gaza.
In Sudan. In Myanmar.
In China – Xinjiang.
In Ukraine.

More. More More.
We push back. We try.
More solar. More wind.
More tidal. More clean.
Grid upgrades. Storage.
But. No.
Self interest. Privilege. Status quo.
They stop us. Surviving.
Stop us. Changing.
It will be too late. Too soon.
Then. Their fields. Will be burnt. Frozen. Flooded.
We will be.
Climate refugees.
With no refuge.

Somehow. Still.
I. And many others.
Carry on. With the burden.
Of grief. Of guilt. Of rage.
Of knowing.
Of being awake.
Of connecting.
With where we are.
And where we will be.

Some things. Locked in.
Others. Still preventable.
If we try.
If we Rebel. For Life.
If we say. No more.
No more patriarchy.
No more media platforms for billionaires.
No more Oil. Gas. Fossil fuels.
No more profit.
Whilst Earth burns.
No more drunk MPs. In Westminster.
No more lies.

Tell the Truth.
Rewild. Restore.
Ungag Lady Justice. Let her see. Act.
Build communities.
Grow connections, not wealth.
Live within. Our limits.
Not taking. From others.
Food. Water. Shelter.
Warmth. Companionship. Happiness.
Joy. Health.
A future.

NOT A BURNING PLANET.
Wracked by storms. Fires. Floods. War.
And collapse.
Extinction.

We can do this.
We can wake up.
We can change our path.
We can save ourselves. Future generations.
The living world we belong to.
If we act. If we step up. If we take risks. If we connect.
HOPE IS ACTIVE

RESIST