MIXED EMOTIONAL FUROR

Mixed Emotional Furor

A poem and short description of a piece about climate change by d.mascus, an alias used by Paul Boeger to credit art work and written word.

Chemically induced stupor, Bad romance Involving nature’s beast. Walking nervously On the line, Unable to concentrate, Sole tapping shoe At breakneck pace. Turmoil seldom subsides, Ingrained foot behavior, Rote, destructive, Mixed Emotional Furor. Right then left A bird flies. Cicadas shout a fit of rage, Unglues the planet. Played out excuses Are torn from her registry, Magically reappear, Spun from the same yarn. Life’s exhibit Propels expectation. Hope dims For resolution. Off the tracks, The train Is coming through.

THE STATION FADED INTO THE NIGHT

I was thinking about all the enviormental changes that are taking place today, and how our Earth’s very existence seemed to be slowly slipping away before my own eyes.

How did we get here? We had so many years to solve this problem, yet it continues to wrap our planet in a dark and dreary bubble that’s killing us.

My memory was jogged, and I thought back to a summer evening in 1975. I was driving from Champaign, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri. I’ll never forget that night when I first became aware of the changes that were coming. It was late, and the highway seemed almost deserted, which was strange. Usually, there was a fair amount of traffic on Highway 57 during the trips I made that summer while preparing to move to Champaign to play with a band I’d been asked to join. But not that night.

I was driving a ’69 VW convertible with the top down, even though it was raining. I listened to AM talk radio as the hosts discussed the oil embargo that had forced gas stations to close for lack of fuel, and how it might be a blessing in disguise. The conversation soon turned to climate change and how people were destroying the planet by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Most cars on the road in 1975 were gas guzzlers that pumped who knows what into our air.

I’ll take a breath because we all know the situation hasn’t changed much, and in some ways it has gotten worse. But thinking back on that night inspired me to write a poem It was recorded and spoken by a mechanical voice, which somehow felt right at that moment.

The station faded into the night, but what I heard that night never did.

Set to music, 2005

Listen on the Internet Archive to the finished song.

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Mixed Emotional Furor( v.2)

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