Industrial Oz: Ecopoems

By Scott T. Starbuck

Industrial Oz explores CEOs' and politicians' Titanic arrogance in the face of human-caused climate destruction. This book focuses on the ways of the Tao instead of the Dow. Other themes include human-caused extinction, rising seas, social collapse and reinvention, a Hopi elder's prophecy, loss of rainforest, possible oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, historical perspective, disappearing sea stars, public apathy, wilderness preservation, challenge of nuclear waste and bombs, mentoring, lack of parenting, melting glaciers, Deepwater Horizon lies, indigenous wisdom, Federal Reserve and banking charades, Greek and Wisconsin austerity, modern wars, Enron deregulation, immigration, PTSD, inherited entitlement, "cell towers as brain forks," being rooted in place, GMO "Octomato Nightmare," drone menace — in short, what the corporate 24/7 distraction machine isn't "counting on you waking up [to,] ever."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fomite
• Release date: Dec 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942515449

Scott T. Starbuck

Scott T. Starbuck was a Friends of William Stafford Scholar at the "Speak Truth to Power" Fellowship of Reconciliation Seabeck Conference in 2014, a 2013 Artsmith Fellow on Orcas Island, and writer-in-residence at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. His poetry focuses on the clash between ancient sustaining forces like wild salmon rivers and modern industry and industrial livelihood. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and San Diego, where he teaches creative writing, world literature, and English. He hikes Oregon and Washington coasts documenting pristine aspects of wilderness as well as our culture’s desecration of ecological communities.

Book preview

1

The Art of Denial

If you ignore a thorn in your hand

it will go away

---

but first the hand gets infected, swells,

turns coal-purple,

---

and sometimes parts must be amputated

to save what remains.

---

Disease could have been prevented

by simply removing the thorn

---

but companies that owned it

said no.

2

Climate Subtext

Is it ok for scientists to weep over climate change?

by Roger Harrabin, The Guardian, July 9, 2015

---

Let’s scientifically and objectively study

rape of your Mother,

---

her eyes as breasts are torn,

pitch of her voice

---

as she repeatedly screams

your name.

---

Forget nurturing you had

as a child,

---

baby sparrows

you two discovered.

---

We’ll measure magnitude

of wounds,

---

erratic pulse,

voice decibels,

---

even document

names and titles of abusers.

---

What’s not allowed

in our courtroom

---

of public opinion

is for you to feel anything.

3

Wasting Sea Stars

Tide pool consciousness means you don’t know

about bacteria, viruses, or coal-fired plants

making sea water acidic.

---

Instead, you focus on gathering

succulent mussels for a dinner

written in your genetic code.

---

You crawl, mate, leave offspring,

protect your territory

under ledges of barnacled rocks.

---

And when stars begin to drop around you,

your arms melt and unhinge,

you merely move along as you always have.

4

Bumper Sticker: Extinction is