By Jean Ponzi
Resolvo Verde
Father Time has turned his page
The calendar is clean
Now resolute upon Life’s stage
I vow to grow more Green!
To set direction yearly
I must do a self-assessment
So I can focus clearly
And sustainably on yes-ment
Let’s see, in terms of daily stuff
What habits can I tweak?
I always wash my clothes in cold,
My windows do not leak.
The only cup o’ joe I’ll drink
Is shade-grown and fair trade
And my home décor is second-hand,
Except for what’s hand-made.
These deeds are good, and Green indeed
But what’s the big resolve I’ve missed?
Some hefty challenge I must meet . . .
I’ll check again my Green Girl list:
I plug devices into strips
To exorcise their phantom power;
Aerated pressure sprays me
In my water-saving shower.
Basic baking soda keeps
My sinks and toilet spiffy.
I deeply breathe to get control
When feeling stressed or miffy.
Birds populate my native shrubs,
My laundry flaps in clothesline breezes;
Plant matter dominates my diet
Plus, of course, selected cheeses.
I need my car because one hip
Has stiffened up awry –
But then again I make no trip
If I would have to fly.
I run the lights and furnace low
I do not use A.C!
And when it’s time for me to go
My friends will shovel worms on me.
I will state with full conviction
That this living Green feels okey-dokel
Yet there is something I must do,
More than spend my dollars local . . .
It’s New Years! Time for firm resolve,
For growing, changing, stretching.
It’s time to brace up, to evolve
And pull the plug on kvetching.
Aha! Yes! I remember
What I need to practice: it’s to be
More tolerant of humans
Who are not as Green as me.
Jean Ponzi holds forth Greenly around our town on Earthworms, the KDHX environmental talk show, at www.ecolifeSTL.com, and for the EarthWays Center of Missouri Botanical Garden.