eric sundin

“It didn’t take long for researchers examining the tiny sea snails to see something amiss. The surface of some of their thin outer shells looked as if they had been etched by a solvent. Others were deeply pitted and pocked. These translucent sea butterflies known as pteropods, which provide food for salmon, herring and other fish, hadn’t been burned in some horrific lab accident. They were being eaten away by the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have documented that souring seas caused by carbon dioxide emissions are dissolving pteropods in the wild right now along the U.S. West Coast. That is damaging a potentially important link in the marine food web far sooner than expected.”
– Seattle Times, April, 2014:
http://apps.seattletimes.com/reports/sea-change/2014/apr/30/pteropod-shells-dissolving

As long as us humans are ‘evolving’
so what if other ones are dissolving?

Generational abdication
by humans turned the crisp ocean
through acute acidification
into soup of toxic potion

The mollusk pteropod
in translucent shell
now by CO2 flawed
Chimes food chain’s death knell

No longer just a notion
effects ubiquitous
No longer mere slow motion
collapse precipitous

By humans running roughshod
the shells now pocked, softened
of the hapless Gastropod
Grandkids’ future coffined

By killing the pteropod
we’re denying Pterogod

+)
-gastropod = mollusk comprising the snails, whelks, slugs, etc.
-mollusk = a large group of animals (such as snails and clams) twho live in a shell
-pteropod = a small mollusk with winglike extensions for swimming
-‘Pterogod’ = (by license) that of God in Everyone and Everything

edited 06/09/22 1700

Om när stapplar emot en spegel
glimtas en ‘malbiten’ figur
väl som andra ser mej som regel
om överhuvet, eller hur?

Grunnar sällan på himmelsk lycka
för lönlöst förstås att vädja
Mens jordelivet, får man tycka
har lyckats att tidtals glädja

Kan ej dröja länge nu till fullt stopp
på livets dåraktiga banor
Tills dess ett trött sinne i krasslig kropp
kan finna ro i gamla vanor

edited 09/23/24 0750

When Spring blossom releases
with inexorable mettle
bit like coming to Jesus
amidst bursts of finest fettle?

Unfolding petals lustrous
bursting in anthesis soundless
Contrasting humans blusterous
in their nauseous noise boundless

Ethereally endowed
each staunch bantam blossom
grows eternally unbowed
fulfills presence awesome

While Nature stays in full control
mere arrogance the human role

+)
anthesis = the flowering period of a plant, from the opening of the flower bud

edited 08/02/24 0815

Det kores alltfor fort i sanden

sa galloperar dock fortfarande hasten

det köres alltför fort i sanden

trots förbränningsmotor anden
så galloperar dock fortfarande hästen
fast det köres allför fort i sanden
i kalifornias numera ‘låtsas västern’

Airy verse warmly oblique
blows abaft, blows athwart
Rhyming bursts in thoughtful pique
lighthearted to cavort

Verse anxious to comport
without baring fangs
just aiming to transport
holding back harangues

Make stanzas tight
not staid or prosy
Make the tone light
but not too rosy

Set not out to sway
or to dissuade
Never try upbraid
attempt allay

Show mercy, so don’t hold forth
Have pity, make verses short

+)
-abaft = from the stern
-athwart = right angle to the ship’s center
-pique = to arouse an emotion or provoke to action
-transport = to carry away

edited 10/14/23 0835

A ceiling is of course an ‘elevated’ subjected here to a lowly verse, as part of tearing up the ceiling in the basement to remove insulation filled with rat droppings:

Sweeping black, seed-like feces
by elusive species
those known to nibble cheeses
into crumbly pieces.

‘Seeds’ (a lot) stuck in ceiling
in spaces foul, dusty.
Hence reaching, scraping, leaning
while dodging nails rusty.

On ladder squeaky
I’m ascending
on old knees creaky
achy, bending.

Scouring hard each rafter
in vintage ceiling.
Work not much sought after
such grungy cleaning.

After task benighted
am thus elated:
Finally alighted
done, relieved, sated.

Now I hope & pray
that rats stay away.

(+)
-alight = come down from
-benight = envelop with social, intellectual or moral darkness
-elevated = raised up; exalted or noble; lofty
-rafter = any of a series of timbers for supporting the sheathing and covering of a roof or floor
-sated = been fed beyond capacity or desire
-seeds = here: what rat feces resemble

edited 05/27/17 0740

Aiming to take us for a ride
those disingenuous words
tenebrously slither & slide
pounce singly as well in herds

By blurred verbiage thronged
our attention grabbed
Bathos suffered prolonged
its contentions crabbed

Assertions spurious
cheery & braying
Assaults laborious
preying, dismaying

Spectacle precarious
in bombastic bouquet
All so faux gregarious
in dissolute decay

+)
-bathos = a ludicrous descent from the exalted or lofty to the commonplace; insincere pathos
-tenebrous = dark, gloomy, obscure

edited 07/11/23 0820

Winter now fading flotsam
lost in tenebrous wake
while the Spring’s tender blossom
bursting fully awake

Dancing blinding sun rays
reflections oblique
among brief showers race
playing hide & seek

In streets trees stretch their eaves
blows a gentle tepid breeze
through giddy tender leaves
like sound of slipping chemise

To roll through cherry blossom portal
brims the heart of this rhyming mortal

+)
-flotsam = floating wreckage
-tenebrous = dark; gloomy; obscure
-wake = the track stirred up behind a moving ship

edited 04/04/23 0930

I’m not fearing to tread
as My Very Own Celeb!
Won’t fail to get ahead
soon gone viral on the web!

Never mind solidarity
must star in My Own Story
Forging on with temerity
I deserve all the glory!

Leaving politics to the Elite
affords time to stuff my own shed
So what that usurious Wall Street
if helps me feather my own bed?

For I won’t hesitate at the gate
of the Only Life Worth Living!
Must not let my beguilement abate
which would turn out unforgiving

Watch me take aim
ready in crisp dress
to claim my fame
a chunk of success!

edited 06/05/22 0855

Watch the ephemeral waves
on oceans eternal
those wary warrior braves
their persistence vernal

Days raced in the froth of my youth
like driven waves, white capping
while now I’m a laggardly sleuth
usually caught napping

Am a poseur among knaves
a most tiresome recluse
one who cowers from the waves
pushing pretexts profuse

Flotsam on stormy ocean
oblivious, obtuse
swept in howling commotion
in existence abstruse

+)
-abstruse = hard to understand; recondite; esoteric
-flotsam = floating wreckage
-sleuth = here: someone who searches for, observes & inquires

edited 10/11/2026 0820