Prompt: park, page, yard, status, shimmering, spill,
spewing, thunder, rest, curb, jets, steps
(Image of the 1930’s Dust Bowl from the Internet)
The Coming Dust Bowl
Thunderclap heard in distance
Yet no drops fall
Onto thirsty landscape
Status of the drought
Third year
Once shimmering lakes dry
No water in the spillway
Bird count down
No rest for the weary
Dust spewing in the wind
Jets fly overhead
In relentless blue
Reminiscent of the
1930’s dust bowl
Children play in the park
Without knowledge
Of the page
That will record the
Current dust bowl
No steps taken
To prevent the
Grass from turning brown
Impossible to curb
Our appetite for oil
Note: I am having trouble with proper spacing? Can anyone help me?
annellannell 
So vivid, and the children seemingly oblivious is so spot-on. No worries from them, only play.
As far as the spacing, I’m not exactly sure what you’re asking…
I can’t get the spacing to work “right.”
I copy it and put it into Word, and copy and put it back, still isn’t what I want. Won’t space for the breaks?
Annell Livingston HC 74 Box 21860 El Prado, NM 87529
annell@taosnet.com http://www.annelllivingston.com http://www.somethingsithinkabout-annell-annell.blogspot.com https://annellannell.wordpress.com http://www.geoform.net
i am glad the children can still be oblivious at times to the trials we go through…ugh though…what a harsh reality it is for the parents though…
Your poem and the image really put across the feeling of the dust bowl. Your closing lines pack a punch! Good one, kiddo. I have trouble with spacing too in draft. What I do is backspace the second line alongside the first line, hold down SHIFT while you hit Enter, and it will give you single line spacing. For the breaks, you have to hit enter twice instead of once. See if that works.
Thank you so much for comments and tips! Annell Livingston HC 74 Box 21860 El Prado, NM 87529
annell@taosnet.com http://www.annelllivingston.com http://www.somethingsithinkabout-annell-annell.blogspot.com https://annellannell.wordpress.com http://www.geoform.net
The desire for gaining economic advantage overrides all other considerations. Very true, annell!
Hank
Oil. So many things that seem to matter to us more than the Earth herself. The children’s oblivion is also the oblivion of many adults. Sadly. Strong write.
Can’t help you with the spacing, Annell, but I will say you have written quite a poignant poem here, that says so much about our times.
Pamela
Living through drought is so terrible for people who make their living from the land. Mother Nature is so fickle. We’ve had a drought here for several years, and suddenly, we’ve had a month of rainy weather.
They look good!
The one you call Rain, makes me think of what the Indians call, walking rain. (You know they say, there is realism in all abstractionism, and abstraction in realism.) Annell Livingston HC 74 Box 21860 El Prado, NM 87529
annell@taosnet.com http://www.annelllivingston.com http://www.somethingsithinkabout-annell-annell.blogspot.com https://annellannell.wordpress.com http://www.geoform.net
You have captured the way things are today. This is reality for today’s children, as they know nothing else.
What a sad and poignant poem on the Dust Bowl. It is scary to see the effects of climate change and the environmental changes affected by man.
Children endlessly feed our imagination!
There is truly desolation in the youthful apathy. It seems a shame we can reverse the trend easily, Annell. Thanks for this powerful statement.