Bye, Bye Earth
a near future nursery rhyme
Pay Sub to help me produce more indie plays, films, fiction and poetry and create stages, communities for other artists and Live series connecting the Stack. Get custom content, chat access, and long-forms back. Subscribe to follow along with every email/note.
When Alicia share her surreal Saturday prompt, at first glance it was beautiful but at second glance I could only see smoke and fire and imagine environmental destruction and war.
This quote immediately came to my mind:
“In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political, I must listen to the birds; and in order to hear the birds, the warplanes must be silent.” - Marwan Makhoul
And suddenly the landscape felt dark and ominous as if it was the precursor to a world where there was no trees and was no streams, where there were no fairytale landscapes. Where this picture was the surreal before to a very grim after.
Then another not so fun fact hit me, all the once, the realization that human-made satellites like StarLink would soon replace the amount of stars in the sky. It wasn’t just the land that would be gone and destroyed, but the skies above.
So I decide to write a nursery for future kids to explain just what happened due to greed and lack of foresight called Bye, Bye Earth.
Like many nursery rhymes of yore, this also serves as a warning.
(A Near Future Nursery Rhyme, reading by me/music by Suno)
Bye, Bye Earth
a near future nursery rhyme
First went the bees,
and after the flowers,
majestic mountains,
replaced by tall towers,
nature aflame in
wildfire spires,
no wishes are made,
for the stars all expired.
Satellites fill the skies,
why even look higher?
Was that a hawk
or a fighter jet?
The humming of war,
with no birdsongs left.
Smoke choked the birds,
so they couldn’t tweet.
Poisoned the ponds, left nothing to eat.
The crickets unheard,
between our harsh words.
The fish in the seas,
with nowhere to swim,
the coral went grey,
the clouds followed suit.
The trees held on tightest, grounded by roots. The deer ran away. The point? Was quite moot.
Then came the fog, the air filled with smog, showered acid rain, from plain to plain, the sea to shining seas, no longer bearing the name.
The waters now the black, the grasses now slack.
The bomb came not as threat,
man’s weapon looked a lot like progress.
The rich built rockets, to escape the moon,
the poor sat in debris,
accepting their doom.
Bad men pillaged the for all she was worth,
then waved their hands in the air,
and said bye, bye Earth.
But wait there’s more…
Pay Sub So I Can Pay Homage To You
I love all my subs. But my paid subs get a little extra something, something with personal custom pieces, long forms and chat posting access.
Can’t afford full price? Get half off in May.
A few custom pieces I’ve created for my Paid Subscribers. Put a lot of love in these to make them truly special for each person.
Ginny
What Trees See
Help me produce more indie plays, films, fiction and poetry and create a stage and community for other artists.
Passing Time
Help me produce more indie plays, films, fiction and poetry and create a stage and community for artists.
She Rages
Lilith
Alicia is a badass horror writer and also a kind amazing person who happens to be one of my paid subs. So you know the drill paid subs gets custom songs, poems and undying gratitude.
The Ways We Die
When you do me the honor of becoming a paid subscriber, I will write you a custom poem or song or both even.
the man, the myth
What happens to a man made myth?
Two Hearts Beating
When Robert was kind enough to become my first paid subscriber I wanted to return the favor in poem.
About
I’m Mila. I’m 41. A mother of two. A Creative Director by a day, a writer of plays, poetry, films and fiction every spare moment I can find. My dream at this not so young age is to make writing and teaching of writing not just my creative life but my working life. Every sub and paid sub helps me get there.
What creatures we be.
The contrast between innocence and consequence gives the piece its force.
Lines like
“Was that a hawk / or a fighter jet?”
and
“Smoke choked the birds, so they couldn’t tweet.”
carry both clarity and restraint which reinforces the message. A very powerful piece.
Monica