As 2011 winds to a close, I reflect on everything that’s happened in the past year, and make it rhyme, with this:
Poem for 2011
It’s been a year since we were here, on this side of the sun.
I hope it’s not been bad for you, and that you’ve had some fun.
We’ve lost a few along the way, they’re buried on the hill.
But the human population now surpasses seven bill.
The earth did shake and roil the seas with horrendous consequence.
And millions spent the end of March in flimsy little tents.
The nuke plant went ka-plooey, at least reactors one and three.
And number two got screwed up too, or so it seems to me.
The spent fuel all caught fire and the cores they melted down
They contaminated everything for fifty miles around.
It got into the air and it got into the sea.
It got into the food supply and showed up in people’s pee.
It drifted all around the world, floating on the breeze.
And a hundred-million tons of it are headed here by sea.
The first of it arrived today, on a beach in Washington
So take a Geiger counter if you comb the beach for fun.
But that was not the only thing that happened here this year.
This poem just might take awhile, so grab yourself a beer.
After eight years in Afghanistan, they finally got Osama.
But they found him in Abbottabad, which caused a bit of drama.
It seems the Pakistanis weren’t so keen to be invaded.
And although they’re still our ally, we are now quite widely hated.
But at least the war in Iraq has now ground to a halt.
What a mess we made there and we know who is at fault.
Because Bush has been convicted of war crimes down in Malaysia.
He’ll have to be more careful now, when traveling in Asia.
And certainly we can’t forget about the Arab Spring.
I would be remiss if, of them, I did not sing.
In Tunisia and Libya, and in Syria and Yemen.
And in Cairo where we saw the streets full of Egyptian men and women.
They overthrew Mubarak and they killed Qaddafi too.
That might make you kind of nervous if, in fact, you are a Jew.
If that thought makes you queasy, this one should make you puke.
The Mullahs in Iran are still working on a nuke.
Meanwhile back in Europe, where we thought everything was swell.
They’re out of cash to pay their bills, with nothing left to sell.
They’re rioting in Athens and in Italy and Spain.
They’re calling for austerity, but no one wants the pain.
And now, here in the US, much to the one-percent’s chagrin.
There’s people in the street who won’t stop until they win.
They’ve occupied the cities, and they’re getting in the way.
Even though the cops hit them with clubs and pepper-spray.
Yes, things are heating up here on this fragile little ball.
And I’m afraid that I don’t mean that metaphorically at all.
The ice just keeps a’melting, as our carbon footprint grows.
Just what that will mean for us, I guess God only knows.
So, its bound to be exciting on this spinning little sphere.
I hope it turns out well for you in the coming year.
