Tell Us ~ Joanna Ballard
     Click here to download MP3.

Tell Us!

The story! the story! they tell us
They clamor and yell us.
The collage of the past,
Twists, turns, churns in chaotic pictures.
The Gaia, the earth, the terra
All spinning in shreds.
The land, the world of our birth,
Our foremothers, grandmothers and others
No longer praised, but depraved.
Ravaged, unrecognized.

Tell Us! Tell Us!
They shriek, of the magic time,
Of things called fish,
That swam in water,
That you could eat!
Of feathered things
That flew and sang music.
Of huge four legged animals
That lived in woods all free.
And oh please tell us of woods,
Forests, and strands of giant trees!

Please, oh please they beg us,
Tell us another of your strange fantasies,
When our air was safe and
Our sol, our sun was meek.
Tell us one of your funny dreams!

(Ah yes, your funny dreams
As you read the page and heard the news
An oil spill there, pollution here
Another species disappears.
As your heart contracted you thought
Someone ought to do something
And surely they will.)

As you weave your tale they listen
Slack-jawed, bug-eyed, enrapt.
They skip away from the marvelous dream
Giggling, laughing, what nonsense,
What tripe, what wonderful make believe,
If only such a place existed or ever really did!

By Joanna Ballard