- Vol. 10
- Chapter 10
From the earth
Wood:
rigid, veined, pulp and bulk.
Forest timber, lumber, plunder,
reaching skyward, powerful, strong;
cut for pulp and telegraph poles –
burned for heat and energy,
breathing, soaring, dying, dead
wood
Steel:
dug from earth by calloused hands,
bent backs and mighty arms;
tempered in fire to make it strong,
melted, smelted, beaten, rolled,
shaped and sheeted, panels formed
soldered, polished, waxed and sealed
steel
Rubber:
tapped from ranging planted trees,
sap rising, latex pouring,
gum, elastic, buoyant, stretching,
treated with sulphur, carbon and oil
blended, moulded, cured,
blackened in fire
rubber
From the earth
Consumers:
extract, process, use, abuse,
earth’s finite richest wealth.
Cut and waste and scrap and pile,
progress, process, gratify,
make and burn, take and break,
dump the excess, start again
consumers