I’m in a poetry class and we needed to write the same poem but in two different formats: metric and cadence. I’m still early in the revision process, but which do you prefer and do you have any suggestions?
The Jungle (metric)
Tall masts, a beacon flowing in a sea
of green, stretching to the heavens, reaching
arms pleading with the Gods, a chance maybe,
to put this in the rearview, beseeching
the higher power to remove the pain,
for every one felled, I now must feign.
There is no more, only incompetence.
Bleats surrounding, lessening our breath,
methane filling the air, no bottomless
source. Each fallen brethren, another death.
We do not mourn, you’ve done this to yourself,
You never cared for the shrinking ice shelves.
The Jungle (cadence)
You see a tall mast, maybe a beacon, flowing in a
sea of green,
arms outstretched, reaching toward the almighty heavens,
pleading with the Gods for a chance
to put an end to this nonsense, and the encroaching
herd, a nuisance
eating their way through the life force, encouraging
a beseeching to the all mighty, anyone, to answer the call,
to make things right, and return to the Earth
a moment without blight, where you mourn the dead,
and cherish what has been returned to continue your life.
Your call goes unanswered, you’re fighting for your life,
not for lack of meat, but because livestock is your greed,
but the lack of trees,
is lessening the oxygen from the air you breathe,
giving you the replacement of methane,
which you do know is fatal, but as long as your stomach is full,
who are you to judge?
So cut down the trees, forget what they mean.
Burn them in your fires and fill the air with hydrocarbons,
for humans will live long after the rest of the Earth expires.
J.G. Gatewood Blog 