Wake Up, Earthlings
Wonder what Mother Earth has to say about her human house guests? This poem brings it home.
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.”
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.
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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Clearing Out 30 Years of Stuff
…an old No Fear ad campaign says, ‘the one who dies with the most toys still dies.’ But instead of heeding this simple wisdom, we continue filling our pockets with rocks and walking, quite happily, into ever deeper water.” –Edward Readicker-Henderson,
A fuller, better-bodied image of myself appeared in my mirror as I read and reread this poem, Stephanie. Thank you for sharing it. A helpful reminder of how much more I need to do to not be such an annoying, thoughtless Earthling. That the answers to our difficulties are simpler than I make them out to be...
Gratitude is the key to happiness, but we cannot be grateful for what we feel entitled too. Thank you for this!!