and ask them to do something
to stop the slow cooking of the planet.
They promise to hire consultants.
‘The facts are well known,’ we say.
The weathervane turns north, then south.
Autumn leaves fall and heavy rains come.
Water gushes down Kildare Street.
The weathervane twirls more furiously.
We meet the politicians again
and demand they lead the way.
‘Our voters will not accept action
and refuse changes in their backyards.’
The quickening wind blows the weathervane right off.
The Liffey rises and floods Dublin,
business close, the economy tanks.
We paddle up Kildare Street
and want to drown them all.
‘Okay,’ the politicians say ‘Let’s talk’.
© Diarmuid Fitzgerald
Diarmuid has had two collections of haiku published, Thames Way and A Thousand Sparks both by Alba Publishing. Poems appeared in The Stinging Fly and Cyphers.
