Wake Up, Earthlings

Wonder what Mother Earth has to say about her human house guests? This poem brings it home.

“Wake Up, Earthlings” © Stephanie Bennett Vogt

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I can’t begin to describe the effect that the poem below had on me when I first read it. If a poem about our behavior as human residents of planet Earth could make one laugh and cringe and reflect and react all at the same time, it would be this extraordinary piece by Matthew Olzmann. Here’s what he says about it:

“In most narratives considering our place in the universe, humanity is often cast in a relatively grand role. Heroes, explorers, central characters—the protagonists of some epic saga. This poem began as the first part of a longer sequence of linked poems that started with a more modest identity: the galaxy’s most annoying house guests, the ones who are too delighted with their own capacity for ruin to notice all the wonders around them.”

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How long Mother Earth will tolerate our unconscious human behaviors is anybody’s guess. But it’s not too late to wake up, do the work of cleaning up after ourselves, and learn to be more gracious house guests and stewards going forward.

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What does the poem below activate in you?

You may have to read it a couple of times to receive its powerful medicine.

Ahhh 🌎🙌🏼

The Earthlings

a poem by Matthew Olzmann

The Earthlings arrived unannounced, entered
without knocking, removed their shoes 
and began clipping their toenails. 
They let the clippings fall wherever.  
They sighed loudly as if inconvenienced.
We were patient. We knew our guests
were in an unfamiliar environment; they needed 
time to adjust. For dinner, we prepared
turkey meatloaf with a side of cauliflower. 
This is too dry, they said.
This is not like what our mothers made.
We wanted to offer a tour of our world, 
demonstrate how we freed ourselves 
from the prisons of linear time.
But the Earthlings were already spelunking 
our closets, prying tools 
from their containers and holding them 
to the light. What’s this? they demanded.
What’s this? What’s this? And what’s this?
That’s a Quantum Annihilator; put that down.
That’s a Particle Grinder; please put that down.  
We could show you how to heal the sick, we said.
We could help you feed every nation, commune 
with the all-seeing sentient energy that palpitates 
through all known forms of matter. 
Nah! they said. Teach us to vaporize a mountain!
Teach us to turn the moon into revenue! 
Then the Earthlings
left a faucet running and flooded our basement.

—From Poets.org. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 17, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.

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