Plastics

Will it be, in the end, for our plastics
we will be remembered?
The end of rich garden soil,
the loss of oceans,
forests and whales: total destruction
of oxygen-based existence.

And will life once again start over?
Based not on oxygen,
but hydrogen, sulfur, or calcium
to create a slime and begin to reconstruct a planet,
not a single human insight,
but a search for alternative life.

Who will remember,
to warn of such man-made disaster:
our self-made hell
that we knew for a fact we were making,
but could not stop
for hatred, envy and money…

and just plain spite:
to stop anyone else from winning:
sacrifice no option,
not even for love of the earth
that has been our home from the beginning
and will be our tomb…

if it doesn’t
just suddenly disappear.