Give the Sky A Rest

Climate Change, nature, Personal Reflection, science 1 Minute

“A watched kettle never boils” (Proverb)

When my schedule allows
I like to stand
my hand on the rumbling
my eyes outside
noting the way the rain drops
cling to the wired grid
of the cat yard roof.

I'm reminded of Elon Musk
how he's netting the
Earth in satellites.
While I debate
space travel pros and cons
the kettle does boil
and I listen to my pouring
knowing it sounds
different / more hissy
than cold water.


Many years ago my husband
sketched a mental image
- coal fired power 
stations pumping out
particulate brown snot
He said "If you put too much
water in, the coal fired power
stations have to work harder"

Not long after, with my toddlers,
I had a go at boiling a tiny beaker
of water in the science museum.
I pedaled a crank with my 
toddler-fit arm muscles.
A minute in and my 
arms ached... nay,  stung!
And the little digital readout
said fifty five degrees
and I huffed and puffed some more
and my children got bored
and pulled at my shirt
and I laughed and gave up
and wiped my brow 
and it became a mantra
for kettle boiling time

"Give the sky a rest"

Down here, 
our little planet
is beset with boiling kettles.
So I like to watch now
if I can,  don't get distracted.
Boil once where possible.
Humans don't deserve
to spoil Mars
but we can enjoy a cup of tea
if we're careful.

written for MERRILDSMITH’S D’Verse poetics prompt “The Proverbial”

To use another proverb: “Better late than never.”

Published by abigfatcanofworms

We all walk in the dark. But if we hold hands, perhaps the dark won't be as scary.

Published

23 thoughts on “Give the Sky A Rest”

  5. Love this, Worms. How enchanting and clever! I really enjoyed these few lines:

    “noting the way the rain drops
    cling to the wired grid
    of the cat yard roof.”

    The visuals here are sweet and immersing. ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  10. Beautiful poem! I loved the visuals – in my mind it conjured up an image of all these kettles boiling at once and hearing them whistle whilst floating in space! I really enjoyed your economical style as well, short sentences and choice words. Lovely 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s