Published September 1st, 2023
Socially Engaged Poetry Contest #7 – First Place
by Jeevan Bhagwat
(Scarborough, Ontario, Canada)
We spew our ignorance
into the air
with our belching smokestacks
and fossil fuels,
till the clouds weep acid
on infertile ground,
and the robin is silent of song.
We raze the forests
with our dark ambition
and rape the earth
with our loud machines,
till their toxic chemicals
poison the soil,
and the cricket is silent of song.
We dump our sludge
into the river's mouth
and choke the shark
with our plastics and oil,
till the sea bleeds black
with our need for greed,
and the orca is silent of song.
Biography
Jeevan Bhagwat lives and works in Scarborough, Ontario.
His poems are widely published in Canada, the United States, and internationally.
He is the winner of the 2003 and 2005 Monica Ladell Prize for Poetry and the 2011 Conscience Canada Art/New Media Contest for Poetry.
He is also the recipient of the 2015 Scarborough Urban Hero Award for Arts and Culture.
Jeevan's books include, The Weight of Dreams (IN Publications, 2012) and Luminescence (IN Publications, 2020).
He is the co-facilitator of the Scarborough Poetry Club.
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Obey
by Kimber-Lee Basson
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