Keep Turning the Lights Off

I sometimes feel

In the singular

Even in my own home

Flicking switches

Tightening taps

Rinsing our eggshells

Crushing them

Like brittle dreams

But over time

My way is becoming

The way

Save the jars

Scrub and recycle the plastic

Make towers of tubs

And rockets from

Rubicon cans

Just mind those sharp edges

The challenge is fatigue

Sometimes it’s just easier

To throw it all in one bin

To leave the house bright and lit

No dark space

For contemplation

But the world is on fire

Greta wasn’t joking

When she told us

The world is on fire

Australia is on fire

America has been on fire

Portugal has been on fire

Midden heaps exploding

In the midday sun

So my fatigue

The thoughtless laziness

Of small boys

And larger

Is meaningless

But action

Means very much indeed

So sort the bins

Walk to the shops

Patch the clothes

Replace fuses, not fridges

And when it’s hard

I’ll just keep

Turning the lights off

One at a time.

Image via Unsplash, Skye Studios, @skyestudiosmedia