A Poem for the #ClimateVisionaries Artists’ Project for Greenpeace
What’s the difference between the precious
And saving the ephemeral
The Power Tree
Be one with the future, is what they said to me
So I sat under a tree
I couldn’t see past the mountain
Which hung to the side of it
If I could I’d see all the lilacs and prunes
Souping under the weight of temperature
If I could see past the sky
I’d know the planets were whispering
The tree itself was purple and grey
And very bright chartreuse in the thick of it
An eternal song of tree
That gave me a strength, unparalleled
I’d been here before it said, in my youth
Not even youth I was very young
Its power was nothing then
But lightning and the afternoon, the little lemons
My power was the same though
Except quicker
What’s the difference between the precious
And saving the ephemeral
Another trillion years we will wait again
The power tree knew all of this, and waited
—
As we begin this critical new year in the fight against climate change, Greenpeace is giving over space on our channels to authors and artists working within the climate crisis. Acclaimed author Lauren Groff prompted artists and thinkers to write essays and art about climate change for us, and so every day this month we’ll have a new piece from that project that addresses, in some form, what it means to create in the midst of this crisis. The forces fueling climate change have the most powerful networks in history pumping out their devastating propaganda at unimaginable scale. It’s going to take everything we have from all of us – imagination equal to the task – to create the climate we’ll need to stop the crisis.
We need these voices and these visions, but they won’t be enough. We need you, too. We encourage you to check back on the Climate Visionaries Artists’ Project every day to see what’s new, and to join the conversation by sharing your work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and tagging it #ClimateVisionaries.