Late October
By: Steve Van Allen
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth
global warming?
a beautiful spring day
late October
Allegory
By: Steve Van Allen
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth
I’ve lost so much: people, pets, keys, books. In the short time since settlers arrived, streams and rivers in the Alleghanies have lost too.
I am daily polluted by chemicals and plastics in my food and water. Streams are damaged by global warming, fertilizers, dammed rivers, and air pollution effects us all.
80% of all hellbender salamanders are gone, and like me they want to hide all day, take care of their young, and not bother anyone.
eventide
lonely swim
searching for peace
Day Three in Siem Reap
By: Anna Cates, Wilmington, Ohio
and Steve Van Allen, Cincinnati, Ohio
A kilometer from Ankor Wat, at Ta Prohm, a Mahayana 12th century Buddhist temple. Huge fig trees hang over the temple and spread across the ground. Moss grows green over the temple stones.
I walk around the walls and note three young saffron-robed monks sitting around a campfire. They call out, “Sok subai,” and wave. I wave back and walk on.
When I get back to my driver, I ask what the phrase means. He says, “Are you happy?”
In decades since, I have often wondered, am I happy?
The US fell to 23rd in the World Happiness Index last year.
moon’s halo
melancholy blue
memories
Insurance?
By Steve Van Allen – Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth
Anna Cates – Wilmington, Ohio, USA
Sugar-Pie is third in line at the pharmacy, six feet behind number two. As she walks down the allergy aisle, she often wonders if her mother cursed her into diabetes.
The pharmacy is busy; it always is. Finally, “Can I help you?”
“My name is Sugar-Pie. I have one prescription to pick up. My birthday is August 14.”
“Here it is. That will be $280.”
She feels faint and holds onto the counter. “It was $40 last month!”
“You are into your donut hole. Spend another $8,000 and you will be back to $40.”
Sugar-pie stares at the pharmacist, turns around, and spends her $40 on candy.
autumn moon
warm aromas
of home
*According to the Congressional Budget Office, 92% of Americans are insured. That leaves 26 million with no health insurance, and often insured have a donut hole.
Understanding the Medicare Part D Donut Hole (verywellhealth.com)
Disabled Society
By Steve Van Allen
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth
Judy cashiers 2 days a week at a Dollar Store, loves the job, the people and it works well with her wheelchair. At the end of a day, she is tired, and so happy the two blocks home are mostly downhill.
She unlocks her door and rolls into her tiny apartment, turns on the one overhead light and says hello to her green budgie.
Judy grabs her one bowl and fills it with off-brand cheerios and the end her milk.
Six months ago it was a no-tell motel, pay by the hour.
She reads her cozy mystery, then goes to bed. She dreams of a time when she could sit outside on cool evenings. A drug deal goes down outside her one window. She sleeps with her Louisville Slugger.
The poor will always be with us…
God, are we stuck with poverty
or is this a challenge?
Resources:
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990 estimates 42.5 million Americans are disabled.
The US Census Bureau Current Population Survey (CPS), 2024 shows the poverty rate is 11.5%, 37.9 million Americans.
Anthropocene
By Steve Van Allen
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth
hawaiian honeycreeper
guam flying fox
bachman’s warbler
yellow blossom pearlymussel
scioto mad tom
mariana fruit bat
Gone forever
plastic
pollution
logging
drilling
hate
asphalt
microplastics
cancer
Cannot leave soon enough
butterfly
the only thing moving
this hot afternoon