She was a kind soft-hearted girl <br />but as a child, she said, she kept <br />some stick insects in a tank as pets, <br />and every morning with a spoon <br />she carefully crushed their new-laid eggs; <br />if not, she said, they bred and bred <br />then fed like wolves upon each other. <br />A stick insect with missing legs <br />or abdomen half gone is not <br />a very pleasant sight, she said. <br /> <br />That breeding tank becomes for me <br />an allegory of planet Earth, <br />where we, like them, voraciously <br />have nearly eaten everything, <br />earth’s minerals, forests, water, food, <br />reserves of oil and coal and gas. <br />Our tank is overcrowded now, <br />polluted soil, polluted seas, we’ve filled <br />it with our mess, and have you noticed <br />how it’s getting hotter here inside? <br /> <br />Perhaps it’s time kind Mother Nature <br />came, and cleaned us out, or brought <br />that crushing spoon, but do not fear, <br />she surely will, and very soon.<br /><br />Pete Crowther<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-care-and-management-of-stick-insects/
