Regular rhythm of breath and
Ipso facto of mind
Tiring out its own welcome to look within.
The inner critic signed on to the team,
The second half non starters now doing the Nugget’s job.
Winning in the chandelier room,
Toppling false idols,
Using flame to cook while the world burns.
Where were you when the Great Barrier Reef whitened and died?

Was your navel gaze filled with Mother Mobil and her money?
Did the raft get us to the other side of madness in time?
Look within, indeed, mirror of woman and man,
Restless hockey star marries a skin oil influencer and
The hype for hair is like the fire it has always been and
I blow the bellows, lifting the heavy leather and snout
Of its antique capacity to blow and blow again
At the coal embers and the car gas,
The greens and spilled fluids staining the driveway
Like the engine oil used and poured on the dirt like a pudding.

A few soft generations without us and the tigers and whales
And the hippos and alligators will again claim,
Like the jungles, their rivers.

So, what about us, shining souls,
Cell life a billion years in the murky making.
Not a draft for doubt or for me as a hero,
Old man in a dull season,
Spring is licking her tendrils and yours.

By Rolf Stavig
3/18/2025