There was a time…

There was a time when learning was fun

When learning went beyond books and tests

Actually using their mind to solve real life situations

Observing creatures in their natural settings

Watching bugs and frogs and a preying mantis

Creating an egg sac that later produced hundreds

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When our children are all made out of ticky-tacky

And they all learn just the same // every child scoring

Higher and higher // or the teacher we will fire

What will happen when they face real world problems?

Perhaps Siri, Cortina, or Alexa will have the answers!

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Photos of may students in my early years of teaching. Since then times have changed and our focus seems to be on test results rather than well rounded students. Perhaps this will change as the cycle goes round and round.

For a wonderful example of what real learning can be, check out Forest Kids Learning. It is a fabulous program that does a wonderful job of hand-on learning!

https://www.facebook.com/ForestKidsCanada/

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When Trees Are Gone

With the economy booming in our area, more and more trees are being cleared to make room for new housing developments. There is no attempt to save the existing trees. Everything is stripped to bare ground, ground up and hauled away. Giant machines turn fifty year old trees into wood chips in a matter of minutes.

What happens when we remove so many trees from our environment? Wildlife gets condensed into smaller and smaller areas. Birds lose their annual nesting locations, and more and more deer are killed by the on slot of cars brought on by development. There appears to be little or no effort to create better highways to accomodate the increased vehicles. We wonder why climate change is bringing warmer weather. Could it be that we take little thought for the tree we are so eager to discard.

Trees cry tears and leaves

Chipper turns years into chips

Earth struggles to breathe

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

This post was inspired by one done by Kym Gordon Moore discussing the same subject.

https://frombehindthepen.wordpress.com/2019/06/13/attack-of-the-wild/

 

Plastic Earth

“Where were you when the earth was plastic?” This is what God asked Job, in answer to Job’s complaint about his woes and sorrow. Obviously this is more of a paraphrase than a quote. I love to think about the time when the earth was in its formative years. The beauty of geological time is written in the rock layers all around us. I can’t imagine the tremendous forces that lifted and bent these rocks. Once mud on the ocean floor, these rocks are now part of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Fossils tell of a very different time. I have broken open rocks and found perfect fossils in them. I have cracked geodes open to find amethyst crystals that grew as lava cooled millions of years ago. So when you complain about your situations in life, I ask, “Where were you when the earth was plastic?”

Read writing in rocks

Recognize we are but dust

Gives life perspective

 

Photos: Dwight L. Roth – taken at the Linville Falls in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

I am posting this for open link night on d’Verse Poets Pub.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

The World in Black or White

I want life to be black or white
Everything easy and I am right
But it really doesn’t work that way
Life is full of contradictions they say

Why can’t life be black or white
Perhaps I wouldn’t be so uptight
But grays are part of every life
I’ve known pain that cuts like a knife

The world wants things in black or white
Good or bad we have to fight
To protect our perfect way of life
Seems it causes bitter strife

To always think in black or white
Fills me with fear and causes me fright
Extremes affect the way we think
And leaves our nations on the brink

Why can’t we realizes we need the grays
Shadows bring accents in many ways
Creativity and paradigm shifts
Would not be possible without the mix

Must we think only in black or white
Judging our brothers when “they don’t do right”
Or can we simply love their flaws
The grays and shades are part of us all

Black or white makes everyone halt
Shutter and cringe at every fault
Blends are the creations we all need
To love our brothers, and not to bleed
But I guess as long as there are two
Black or white will judge them too

Love the differences don’t get up tight
Live in peace and let’s not fight
Recognize that if we want to survive
Black and white will not keep us alive
Thinking we are always right
Life will surely be a fright

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Old Musicians

Old musicians die
But their music lives on
Beautiful tributes
To the power they harnessed
That changed the world
Challenged politics
Social Norms
And, brought about revolutions
Music that touches the soul
Reaches all the way to heaven
And Hell
Yes, old musicians die
But their music is alive and well

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Just Imagine

I am always amazed at the imagination we have and how far mankind has come over the centuries…. then I look at nature!

Imagine
The thrill of the imagination
Takes us places we can never go
Beyond this earthly home
Out into the solar system
Wrapping our minds around the
Concept of a galaxy in a world far far away
Imagine going into the depths of the earth
All the way to China as we used to say
…Our way of saying very deep
Imagine riding with Voyager
As it continues to sail out into the universe
Beyond our solar system to worlds unknown
Having paid its dues in 2012 sailing on
Singing I’ll fly away oh glory I’ll fly away
Who are the imaginers of the present
With visions beyond this realm
Pushing the outer limits in ways yet to be
Not content to live in Earth’s isolation
Rather seeking ways to imagine
The reality of a Star Trek generation
That will stretch our imaginations even more

All of our achievements amount to very little when compared to the world around us, and the universe… which is beyond imagination!

I cannot imagine that it all just happened with a Big Bang!!

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

The Making of Me

Not sugar and spice;

Sometimes not even so nice;

Flesh and blood I am…

a body that will not last.

Just like the junk we buy…

I too am disposable.

Dust to dust and ashes to ashes

has me covered from beginning to end.

Maybe the evolutionists got it wrong?

We all came from dust and ashes;

Water just facilitates our staying alive.

God must have had fun

making mud pies…

Ending up with me!

What we can’t explain

Is that elusive Spirit

living part time

in my dust and ashes;

Quietly slipping back to its origins

As this body reaches its end…

The image of God // the soul-spirit

lives on… returning to the

handler of dust and ashes

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Photo taken at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Amaya, at d’Verse, talked about the different views of the origins of matter and of you and me. Essential elements and forms of matter have been recognized by different people, cultures and religions all the way through the centuries. People looked at the stars and developed astrological explanations of matter.  Instead of looking at the astrological aspects, I decided to go straight to the heart of matter… Me!

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

 

Theory of Everything

This week at d’Verse Poets Pub, we have been discussing theories of everything both real and imagined. When Darwin’s theory of evolution was presented it was greatly challenged by the Christian Church leaders. Those who believed in creationism could not accept this far out theory. The debate still goes on, with no one really able to prove their theory.  Yet one has to wonder, as we look at the world around us, how it all came about!

As I contemplate my existence
How it must have all come about
I find a thought persistent
In my mind and won’t come out

If as some believe we all came from the ocean
Organisms and fish learning to breathe on land
Evolving into monkeys, dinosaurs, and toucans
Then we are all the same both woman and man

In every drop of water and every living thing
The DNA strands in us and them should all be the same
But the opposite seems to be true it seems
DNA is different in every living organism, woman, and man

So how can it be possible to have such strange dichotomy
Millions upon millions of living things
All different yet with such unique anatomy
Not one of them the same whether on legs or on wings

With such a well-ordered plan and imaginative design
It seems intelligence beyond our comprehension
Has put in motion this world a one of a kind
And we all participate in this great dispensation

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Falling off the Edge

Since we are looking at far out theories on d’Verse this poem came to mind. I decided to repost it to show how silly some theories can be, and yet people still believe them!

Flat Earth
What if the Earth was flat
Imagine that
There are some who still believe
Wondering if at some point
They might wander too far in the breeze
And sailing on suddenly drop off the edge
Into the abyss of lost souls’ deep wedge
The Earth is flat… If I can imagine that
All could believe and God might be a cat
Prowling the land whiskers in hand
Flicking his tail making demands
And for amusement entertainment for most
Perched on the edge and as people get close
Taking his paw flicking them over, they’re toast
Thinking how silly for people to believe

 

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Buy Local

So often we are geared toward buying at the big box stores or on Amazon because it is convenient and most importantly often less expensive.  What we don’t realize is how our choices affect the small business persons in our community. The extra we pay helps those we know, rather than going into the pockets of CEOs who already have more than they can ever spend in this lifetime.

Buying local shows

friends and neighbors you care…

Helps your town thrive

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Photo: Dwight L. Roth