ISLAND CABIN

when the environment comes on the radio
i think the conversation has shifted
where it used to be: is everything gone wrong?
now it's: sorry but yes, everything is gone wrong
so maybe we can start the glass-half-full conversation
reports of animals amazingly still left
trees not yet furniture or paper or ash
when the environment comes on the radio
i think there is no other topic
and then when it's religion i think the same thing
and then if it's anything else
there could be nothing else.
you can't really outlaw human nature, that fails.
better to think about swimming
at sunset on huntington beach and dad picked us up
and we slept all the way home still crashing in waves.
but the environment is sort of our topic.
1972 was the zero growth year,
our numbers shaped by critical mass theorizing.
we grew up near schools built quickly in the 1950s
they sat there empty in the 70s, weird rec center places.
late night radio was all nuculear doom
the numbers were bad
& so was the air and the water and now the climate
our teachers pitied us, openly,
if you grew up in LA it was just more apparent.
stepping outside all that, here comes that oppressive feeling
being corralled by a movement,
even a just movement, you want it to leave you alone, leave your thoughts alone.
a wilderness of thoughts to rebel against the rebellion.
i am thankful for comics, funny people everywhere, fuckit