Poetry Corner
Poems by Nancy Lawrence
Midnight Ocean
A man, dark as midnight, hands me a basket of shells and I can hear the ocean.
Finding Mother Earth
It is OK that we walk into the hole in the universe
to investigate why the rivers flow nowhere,
when answers have been found, we shall rejoice in our power,
humanity shall walk softly with Mother Earth.
Pterodactyls
Ancient dragonflies fly from primeval water forest,
morphed into Pterodactyls.
Walls drawn up on borders,
we will be there when the walls fall.
Nancy Lawrence was born in New York City in 1945. She was educated in various different places internationally and has been very active against imperialism, police abuse and brutality, and many other causes. In 1985, she joined the Peace & Freedom Party the only Socialist, feminist electoral political party registered in California since 1967, and later also joined the Bus Riders Union. In 2010, some things happened that transformed her life deeply, such as the “People’s Climate Conference for The Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia and the horrific oil spill by British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico. She then became motivated to raise funds to travel to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to attend the People’s Summit, an alternate to the official Rio+20 climate conference. Since then, Ms. Lawrence has educated herself on global climate justice issues concerning the protection of Mother Earth. Her insights are generous and compassionate, with emphasis on the international Indigenous struggles.
