The end, cuidadosamente decorée

In September 2023, with Paris, and so many other places, too hot and toxic (air pollution), I cannot help posting this very short poem. (English followed by une version en français y una versión en español. At the bottom there is also a Chart presenting a country-by-country and per-capita breakdown of carbon-dioxide emissions.)

Nota para los lectores hispanohablantes: cada vez sigo más la tendencia inglesa y francesa de escribir en mayúscula la primera palabra de cada línea de un poema. Esto se debe a que deseo que cada línea se lea como una afirmación (y esto aunque, gramaticalmente, no sea más que una frase dentro de una oración más larga).

The image is from a photograph of the protester who on 7 September 2023 glued himself to the stands of the US Open tennis tournament, interrupting play. His T-shirt reads “End Fossil Fuels.” (Fossil-fuel burning being responsible for more than 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Is this why the CEO of an oil company was appointed to head up the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28?)

The titles of the individual poems comes from an article by Graham Readfearn in The Guardian.

As during the Second World War in France, the ways resisters have of resisting, of trying to take action to improve the life of their society is limited. An image or poem let loose on the media is good, but hardly sufficient.

English

Antarctica warming much faster than models predicted

I suppose it was not

Such an odd feature of

The end of their way of life

The regular appearance of

Warnings and reports about

The end of their way of life

Ignored

The warnings and reports decorated

The end.

Français

L’Antarctique se réchauffe beaucoup plus vite que ne le prévoient les modèles

Je suppose que ce n’était pas

Une caractéristique si étrange de

La fin de leur mode de vie

L’apparition régulière d’

Avertissements et de rapports sur

La fin de leur mode de vie

Ignorée

L’information a décoré

La fin.

Español

La Antártida se calienta mucho más rápido de lo previsto en los modelos

Supongo que no

Era una característica tan extraña

Del fin de su modo de vida

La aparición periódica de

Advertencias e informes sobre

El fin de su modo de vida

Ignorado

Este material decoró

El fin.


— Poem(s) by William Eaton. Photo by Al Bello.

Chart

6 comments

    • Bonjour armelella47, Vous êtes la deuxième personne de me poser cette question en 2 jours. Y-a-t-il quelque chose in ce post – “The end, cuidadosamente decorée” qui provoque cette question ? Beaucoup d’informations (trop ?) me concernant sont contenues dans ces nombreux posts, ou à https://montaigbakhtinian.com/bit-of-bio/ . Et vous ? Comment, par exemple, avez-vous découvert ce post ou d’autres de mes poèmes, essais, articles… ? Cordialement, William

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