alice

poet, biologist, ecologist, maker, GS leader, OWL facilitator, mother, and partner

[alemieux]

It's genuinely summer now and thoughts turn to travel and road trips.

[alemieux]

In these days of summer camps' lost-and-founds, remember that those that are found are precious, no matter the state.

[alemieux]

At least 50% of the Earth's oxygen is produced by these tiny suckers.

[alemieux]

As many graduate, remember the friends you made.

[alemieux]

Remembering the support my dad always gave in regards to my poetry. Here's one I wrote for him.

[alemieux]

[alemieux]

Careful, we might actually just be plankton trying to tread water.

[alemieux]

Don't get greedy!

[alemieux]

This Earth Day, don't forget that we are very much a part of a large and diverse world.

[alemieux]

The Ultimate Tragedy is Silence*

I’ve got too much to say and I don’t want to say it.

Too much to yell and I’m afraid to yell it.

Was loud as a child, always told to be quiet,

“You’re too loud, too happy within the system,

sit back, shut up, and please just listen.”

My mind moves too fast for my tongue,

been spitting out nonsense since I was young.

Got me mocked - sneers and meanness that stung

And then stuck           and clung.

Now the state of the world demands my voice

and I have the privilege to pretend a choice.

Because truth is, I’m beyond scared

that whatever I say will be shared,

mocked with others words

and shunned from their herds.

So afraid of rejection, I sit home in dejection.

So sure of ridicule, I make myself minuscule.

I want to convince

my mind: ever since

I’ve sat here alone

I’m no worse off if I’m known.

If the worse that can happen

is my image is blackened,

then I must risk the light

to do what feels right.

I’ll start by speaking what I know

then maybe my volume will start to grow

and my wounded self can finally glow

with risks that are taken and support that is shown

So let me cry out, “Hear my voice one and all:

I have too much to say and to yell and to scrawl.”

I’ll write and I’ll protest and I’ll speak ‘til I’m blue

for a better system for all – that includes me and you.

*Taken from a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. – “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.”

[alemieux]

Where there is a sunset, there is a sunrise.

[alemieux]

[alemieux]

Sometimes we need to go further than our fore-bearers.

[alemieux]

[alemieux]

Hey, just because it requires maintenance doesn't mean its broken. (Our marriage is fine, btw, just feeling the need to post older poems).

[alemieux]

Human nature seems to want to pass responsibility for ills. Let's do better.

[alemieux]

Perspective can change almost anything. "The Princess and the Pea", but what if it was the pea trying to sleep all along?