Earth Day, 2009

It’s Earth Day.
We’re green again.
Or say we are.
Pubs will pour green beer,
to celebrate, as they do
on St. Paddy’s Day.
Children will grip
colored ribbons and dance
around coveted Earth poles.
Organizers will comb
shorelines for detritus,
cleaning up after themselves;
carelessness will go by
the wayside until tomorrow,
and perhaps the day after.
Examples set will reverberate
in a closed room at the Western end
of the Big House, while the fruits
of our labor dry on foreign vines.
Will that ribbon around
the dead elm tree matter
after the tribe scatters?
Will the race against time
bring too much too soon,
too little too late, or the
just right Now? Will she
also wear ribbons in her hair?