Scared Sootless: Howling at Climate Calamity

Chase Watters

Daily I am haunted.
Haunted by the carbon-laced corpses of shrubberies, reptiles, and sea anemones
Fossilized over millions of years in tombs of coal, oil, and natural gas.
Haunted by eon-old spirits from quintillions of organisms, exorcised daily to energize this nation.
Energy fueling next-day deliveries to hoarders surrounded by things, and drowning in stuff.
Energy fueling 4-hour Zooms/commutes, the only way to pay rent and make it to the next paycheck.
Energy fueling cryptocurrencies to the moon; smoke stacks pumping out fat stacks of 0s and 1s.
Energy fueling never-ending wars, to feed the gluttonous corporatocracy and our oily appetites.
Energy fueling the media to demonize the left and/or right; good boy, chase the ball while it shines.
Energy fueling drunken 3:00 AM tweets, posts, and texts; demeaning others and ourselves.
Energy fueling suit and tie masturbations under the fluorescent glow of empty corporate buildings.
Energy fueling gigaton methane farts, our noble sacrifice to carnivorous gods.
Energy fueling hollowed-out American dreams, tasteless fodder for our billionaire queens and kings.
These sooty succubae stalk my thoughts so that sleep is far,
Ravaging our carbon-capturing guardians (trees, oceans, and soil) and prophesying things to come.
I am haunted by voiceless screams of Rain and Arctic forests alike,
Bark melting off as they burn at the stake.
I am haunted by acidic oceans, bleached coral reefs,
And ageless urchin armies devouring unseen sea kelp forests.
I am haunted by bone-dry wetlands, barren grasslands,
And thawing tundra bogs lit up like a pack of Virginia Slims.
Babies desperate for clean air like emphysema patients huffing an empty oxygen tank.
Billions of half-eaten Happy Meals, off-gassing in a landfill and demanding that I float too.
Escalating sea levels and horrific hurricanes, washing away our spendy sand castles.
Hell on Earth summers eviscerating crops and strangling water supplies.
And hardier and hungrier viruses, ever-mutating and piling up the bodies.
No one’s hands are clean, but grimy and eager
To unleash legions of CO2 demons, to smudge up a century.

The Science

The poem sparked from the hypothesis that the climate crisis could be stymied by seaweed (kelp) farming. Remarkably giant kelp can grow up to two feet a day, sink to the bottom of the seafloor, and be locked away as sediment.  It is also inspired by the complex web of research tabulating the human activities driving climate change. This poem taps into the rhythm of the earth's capture and release of carbon. It speaks to the liberation of carbon from fossil fuels into the atmosphere, and capture back by trees, soil, and the ocean. It highlights some daily energy consumption rhythms of Americans, and speaks to the rhythmic themes of life & death, poor & rich, fear & acceptance.

The Poet

Chase Watters is a microbiologist who lives in Maryland, in the United States. Other than microbes, he is keenly intrigued by CRISPR, unique approaches to tackle climate change, and public health. He is also a chess master who has a fondness for logic, blueberry bushes, and words.

Next poem: Sea Symphonies by Steve D. Smart