Fairy tale of eternal economic growth

Issue three: poem

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words … and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth (Greta Thunberg)

Greta Thunberg in a photograph featured on the cover of Vogue Scandinavia (2021)

a bunch of wolves				                        corporate executives		

in their suits and sloping shoulders	                do not like poetry

show writers their weapon-making	            	that unprofitable craft

of outdated tanks				                        that has no place

in the clean water exchange	                        in the myth of economic growth

the last of it I think		                                they tell poets to stop writing	

critics gulp polluted air with silver spoons     the laureates go first

the rock is turned over				        then the rest follow

dead bugs reveal 				                        there is still verse for those who insist 

the sea engulfs hotels		                	        with dusty books on ignored shelves 

the managers give the guests boats		        they work the galleys

old men complain of the chaos			        open the pages

wolves try to eat the plants				        with their yellowing leaves

but there is wonder in the way		                they ask what the symbols mean 

Eileen P. Kennedy is a bi-national author of two collections of poetry: Banshees (Flutter Press 2015), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Touch My Head Softly (Finishing Line Press 2021), which was nominated for the International Book Awards in General Poetry.  She lives, writes and reads in Amherst, MA. More at EileenPKennedy.com.