(November 2024)

(repeat as needed)

Safe in Canada, I observe
the crisis rising in the south:
will the people there deserve
the curses from the liar’s mouth?
Will civil liberties remain
when all the ballots have been cast?
Will autocratic fascists reign
over America at last?
And even if the people vote
to oust the misbehaving child,
will he again pretend to gloat
and say sedition “Will be wild”?
Will guns come out? Will civil war
finally slam shut freedom’s door?

Safe in Canada, you say?
Fascism hungers for invasion.
The MAGA States will sure betray
treaties with any other nation.
We may have burned the White House down
back in the War of 1812,
but every rifle-toting clown
will gladly into True North delve.
They may be overconfident,
they may be corpulent and fools,
but can’t all be incompetent
and they have more destructive tools.
Prepare, O Canada, to fight
for democratic freedom’s light.

I hear the most important threat
of climate change is to your mind:
it makes us nervous and upset
to watch the living world unwind.
Poor baby! Take your calming pills
and maybe have a drink. Alas,
meditation cures no ills
outside your head – no burning grass
or forest cares if you feel better.
No glaciers slow their melting rate
because you write a thoughtful letter
or gracefully accept your fate.
Prayers provide little traction
when what is needed now is action!