The After

By Terry Dawson

The After: A Farewell to a Planet?Never underestimate the planet's ability to heal... and humankind's ability to destroy it.Through this captivating collection of poems, The After: Poems Only a Planet Could Love author Terry Dawson takes us on a thought-provoking journey that serves as an ominous warning of the dangers ahead and a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poets Choice
• Release date: Apr 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9789394020474

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~ for Alix,

who on so many levels

has made the earth a better place.

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself,

What if I had never seen this before?

What if I knew I’d never see it again?

- Rachel Carson

Preface

The following collection of poems does not assume a dystopian future. In some ways it argues against such pessimism. Yet the strength of one’s argument often rests on accepting that the opposing position grounds itself on some hefty evidence. While driving and listening to an NPR interview with the late Stephen Hawking, I almost instinctively braked when he suggested humanity’s best hope for tackling climate change. The depth of hot water in which the earth submerged only then hit me to inspire this book.

Interplanetary exploration, the brightest mind of our time rattled through that electric current of a voice with which we’d all grown accustomed.

This was years before we witnessed, within days of each other, not one, but two private corporate adventures into what Star Trek’s Gene Rodenberry’s called the final frontier.

In Hawking’s view we’ve reached the point of no return when it comes to Earth. In the shadow of this weighty opinion the invitation of hometown Pittsburgher, Rachel Carson, begins to sink in. We need to open our eyes to what we might never see...again.

the after: poems only a planet could love offers an imagined step away from what we’re losing on the levels of planet, country, state, and body. As laments wrapped in pleas these poems make a stab at Carson’s seeing into what we have in the hope of stirring in us a metanoia: a turn to retrieve what discarded like an orange peel or fetal afterbirth.

I want to thank Akshay Sonthalia and the folks at Poets’ Choice for recognizing the value of this literary effort in publishing it. I also want to express appreciation for my wife, Dr. Alexandra Wilson, and our children, Fiona and Liam, for their support of this project -- and for my son particularly in contributing one of his paintings for the book’s cover. Thanks to you the reader as well for taking the time to read these urgent poems.

All Rights Reserved

Published by Poets Choice ®

www.poetschoice.in

First Edition March 2022

Cover Art by Liam Wilson , USA

Cover Design by Koni Deraz, Germany

Book Design by Adil Ilyas, Pakistan

ISBN: 978-93-94020-47-4

Price: $22.5

BCID: 831-16507360

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© Terry Dawson

Preface

I the sphere

what the celestials never mention

abjuring harmones mundi

terrestrial

the after

again

lost & found

mundane

sir isaac strolling head-on into the truth

ornithological possibilities for the earthbound

a pause between

monkey yellow

above

eternal

new ocean

II the island

island living

climate change of hands

tectonic shift