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Environmental challenges

3/14/2018

16 Comments

 
Gwendolyn M Plano
This week, poet Ronovan Hester offers a Haiku Challenge Prompt of slim and chance. If you are inspired to try Haiku, just click on Ronovan's name and you'll be led to his site where he explains the rules. 

We live in a time of environmental challenges and my poem is about one such traumatic occurrence. During the 1930s, the Dust Bowl drove hundreds of millions from their homes. My father's family was one of them. According to Doyle Rice of USA Today, this was one of the top environmental catastrophes in world history. It is difficult to imagine but in a single year, more than 850 million tons of topsoil blew away. 80% of the United States was in a drought. 

I've entitled this poem, Tomorrow?
Picture
16 Comments
D.L. Finn
3/15/2018 01:20:34

Nice nod to the environmental changes. I pray we never go through that again, but fires seem to be getting too common and bigger storms.

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/15/2018 11:37:11

Thank you, D.L. It's amazing what they went through in the '30s, and with our current droughts, we could face something similar. Sadly, fires are much too common.

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John Howell link
3/15/2018 10:00:59

Great Haiku, Gwen. A rain shower or just a dream. Super line.

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Gwen Plano
3/15/2018 11:37:43

Thank you, John. Glad you liked it. :)

Reply
Mae Clair link
3/15/2018 11:10:56

I can't imagine how people coped with the dust bowl of the 1930s. Your Haiku is perfect and that photo is...powerful.

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Gwen Plano
3/15/2018 11:39:22

Thank you, Mae. The stories of survival during that time are heart-wrenching, for sure. ♥

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Davy D link
3/16/2018 11:22:12

Powerful and poignant poetry and picture Gwen. It is hard to imagine such an event, but similar ones seem to becoming more common as we plunder the Earth.

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Gwen Plano
3/16/2018 12:09:10

Thank you, Davy. My father's stories of growing up in the Dust Bowl were horrifying. My hope is that we've learned from that catastrophe.

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Elizabeth
3/16/2018 11:47:00

Great picture to go with the haiku. So happy I am not to live in an area of the U.S. where haboobs occur with any frequency.

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Gwen Plano
3/16/2018 12:10:58

Thank you, Elizabeth, for visiting and commenting. I hope we never have to experience this again, but the drought is unrelenting in some areas.

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Vashti Q link
3/16/2018 13:20:26

Wow! That's very interesting, Gwen. I learned something new today. That's like something out of a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel. Great poem!

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Gwen Plano
3/21/2018 19:44:58

Thank you, Vashti. I grew up hearing about the Dust Bowl. Dad was from Oklahoma, and suffered it terribly. ♥

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Jan Sikes link
3/16/2018 14:38:51

Wow, Gwen! This is both powerful, poetic and artistic. Love, Love, Love it!

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Gwen Plano
3/21/2018 19:46:19

Thank you, Jan, so much! Folks suffered immensely during those years. Blessings. ♥

Reply
Tina Frisco link
3/18/2018 14:57:48

This made me think... Throw caution to the wind, and dare. A stirring Haiku, Gwen ❤

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/21/2018 19:47:11

Thank you, Tina. We need to take care of our environment lest we repeat our mistakes. Blessings to you. ♥

Reply



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Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ―Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


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