The Source Arts & Literature section highlights the work of our creative readers. All visual artists and creative writers are encouraged to share with us new works. Please see below for full submission guidelines.
Unsustainable
There’s a certain entity that fills my heart with dread,
While we’re often in the darkness, they’re always in the red.
I heard the top officials eat very well-buttered bread,
They have the type of palate that demands a sumptuous spread!
While we’re debating over fungi and butterfish,
That last supper served a $50,000 dish!
This type of consumption gets my stomach all in knots,
It simply would not go away with Pepto Bismol or Maalox!
Too many bad connections between insight and the brain,
Caused millions and millions of dollars to wash right down the drain!
I know by many agencies this system is still owed,
But it seems like poor decisions make up the mother lode.
Looks like due diligence and oversight got buried underground,
And it must have been too dark for transparency to be found!
Can’t comprehend agreements made so arbitrarily,
About infrastructure as crucial as a utility.
They got some new devices, they said that they were smart,
But academic problems came almost from the start.
They were not reading at grade level satisfactorily,
Did someone even take the time to check their literacy?
We advertise these islands: sun, sand and sea,
Please pack a generator, that’s a necessity!
Can some enlightened one explain this paradox to me:
Living in a paradise and yet a third world country.
This dark situation is really quite a pain,
‘cause even in fair weather it seems like a hurricane!
Flashlights, candles, water filled up in a pail,
Charging up your phone to ensure batteries will not fail.
Perhaps you’re in the kitchen cooking your favorite pot of soup,
Or standing in the bathtub dressed in your birthday suit.
When suddenly it happens, now what do you think?
No fire burning on the stove, no water in the sink!
When they write the VI story we’d have a brand-new legacy,
The number of days and nights spent without electricity!
The pounds of food that’s rotted, appliances gone kaput
Are not the type of stats we want in our history books.
Can we count all the meds that lost their potency,
When the temperature was not what it was supposed to be?
How can businesses operate with such uncertainty,
Making up lost days instead of making more money.
Many places in the world use waste for energy,
But we expend our energy to make waste, you see.
And now we’re getting ready to decide on a new Chief,
So, I’ll grab me some Imodium and pray hard for relief!
Sandra C. Bradley is a Source reader who loves to explore the power of words, the pits of an avocado and the peacefulness of nature.
Poetry and creative prose submissions are limited to 1,500 words and should include a brief bio of the writer. Visual art submissions should include at least one high-quality image or video and a very brief bio along with an artist’s statement that speaks to the inspiration of the work. The statement should include the title if there is one, the medium used and what the work means to you.
Please send submissions and questions to visourceart@gmail.com.
