From walks on a beach littered with residue of human activities to disappearing biodiversity in deserts, this artistic contribution containing polyglot poetry in multiple languages decodes and deconstructs the Anthropocene both in time and space: historical aspects are contrasted with the rebellion of youth against the prevailing systems; the macrocosm of oceans is juxtaposed with the miniature world of insects; and the multi-layered relationship between humans and Nature is viewed locally, globally and glocally. By expressing herself in several dozens of languages besides English, the writer, who is also an ethnobiologist scholar and environmentalist, adds thought-provoking, expressive and inspirational linguistic dimensions to the various prose reflections. Several poetic forms are employed in the multilingual poems, from folk songs to haiku, in order to instigate discussions about political, ecological, economic, social and individual issues related to the Anthropocene and human attitudes towards Nature.

Poem I

Introductdanceion

Wind on empty beach

 waltzing with clouds.

The show can start.

Waves roll,

dancing tango with sand grains.

 I turn around.*

*or: I take a dance turn.

*

Beach. Strand. Ranta. Shore. Sure. Coast. Litoral. Tengerpart. We are created by the oceans. Our ancestors crawled up on land, but we never left the water. All around us is Wasser. Su. Víz is inside us. Vesi is a life liv necessity.

*

I am a polyglot writer Schriftsteller författare kirjailija. I think and dream and talk and listen and write in many dozens of languages, and they are all aktiv all the time inside and outside me. Languages are a life necessity to me. They flow like water in a river, joessa, in the sea, meressä. Waves of languages, nyelvek, kieliä, språk, Sprachen, roll onto the seashore and roll out again, constantly. Constantemente.

Languages are the heartbeat and wavebeat of my heart, of my brain, of my ocean. I mix words and structures and sounds and scripts and meanings. I swim in språk. I breathe diller. Even when I write in apparently one language, idioma, in reality I denke and create and write in multiple languages.

*

The poems I write are like sea water. You can measure its temperature or the salinity, Salzgehalt. You can measure the amount of languages or the length and width of the words and meanings. Yet like with sea water tengervíz, you must let yourself float, trusting that you will not sink sjunka and drown hukkua, and the poems a versek will carry you.

But maar: we humans are careless with water eau, our primary element, our Mother, Äni, Äiti, Anya. We throw it away. We dry up the already desiccated lands and turn them into wastelands. We fill the rivers and folyók and lakes and Seen and oceans and Weltmeere with chemicals and rubbish. We live as if water will be there always, just like Mama is there for us, forever, ikuisesti, örökre, ewig, siempre.

*

Come with me for a walk on the beach.

We have walked there many times before, but now we will monitor it. Choose a strip of a hundred sata stotinu metres. Take a list and a pencil. Count and collect any marine litter of our era the PlasticoFantasticoPartycene. We are already breathing, eating and drinking plastic particles. We carry hundreds of grammes of plastic particles in our bodies.

One day, when humans have returned back to deniz, the sea, these memorabilia of us two-legged thoughtless predators rovdyr will still be floating in the water, acqua, agua, and flowing through hava, the air.

There is a huge sack we will fill now with discarded souvenirs of humanity.

Poem II

Walk the Line

mark starting point. Punkt.

forest/beach/sea nothing keep still

tricolour flag/ no nation/ no frontiers/ no passports

washing line with dripping shirts never drying

dunes/yellow flower eyes/ heavy seagulls flapping

wind winds lost languages gull swallows plastic bag

kowtowing bushes/ hopping sand/ joking waves

walking the rope/ sinking feet/ ship or boa ton horizon?

nothing keeps within boundaries

not even the litter

count countless

cigarette butts/ ketchup bottles/ scattered memories

cleaning sticks with ear wax long diluted

beer/ water/ juice cans/ metal tins/ green glass fragments

plastic plastic plastic plastic plastic plastic plastic plastic

hard/ soft/ recyclable/ don’t know what to do with it

bottle caps/ bottle caps/ bottle caps and more bottle caps

red/ blue/ green/ yellow/ nondrescript bags

gather collect pick up put in big black plastic sacks

marine/shelf/surface/ beach litter/ language litter

land-based and sea-based and all of it human-based

sea shells/ sea weed/ dead fish/ dead gull/ dead jellyfish

did they have our leftovers for lunch?

They say we live in the Anthropocene. They say humans människor have a huge impact on this planet, on the geology, ecosystems, biodiversity, species extinction and the climate. They say human menneskelig civilisation has caused the present crisis, the increasing number of environmental catastrophes. They say that humans mennirnir have become like hungry locusts, eating everything in sight, and that humanity menneskehet has grown too voracious and too vast and too destructive. What do you think? Do you feel guilty, syyllinen?

*

When did Anthropocene start? Nobody nessuno knows. Keine Ahnung. When does it end? When humanity emberiség is gone, weg. Because they say Anthropocene is the time of the humans, of the human influence on the planet.

Here is a dilemma. We humans have forgotten that we are a species, too. We humans think that we are Civilised Cywilizowany Civilisé and therefore know how to rule the world värld Welt świat világ. We humans are shocked chockade järkyttynyt when we realise that there are forces we cannot control.

*

We humans… we think we are at the top of the food chain and crude brain, because we have Zivilisation Sivilisaatio. Because we have Language Gjuha. Because we walk on two dva twee legs. Because we… there are lots of reasons, syitä, if you want to find them.

What if we turned our civilised brains around and asked: What if we are not the smartest and most beautiful?

*

I love Nature, you say. I love Természet. There is only love Liebe amore ljubav in the speech of humanity when we talk about Nature, our beloved Gaia Γαία, our planeetta, this pear-shaped sphere which keeps our feet glued to its surface, the ground.

And yet you cry out and I scream and everybody starts howling when Natur invades our sterile chemically cleaned homes. Because luonto, naturen, is already far from us urbanised turbonised carbonised burdenised organised organisms.

*

We have lost our connections and our bearings, our Orientierung. We know more today about nature in theory, from TV, internet, books. What about reality?

Poem III

Micro Monsters

A millipede

hidden in cauliflower proof:

no chemicals

Hanging from a thread

ignoring gravitation:

first loop for a net.

Waves whip up on stone.

Eight legs flee much faster

than my only two.

Life in the forest:

huge hairy legs invade walls

I must plug the holes.

Was it the spider

who poured its poison, stinging?

Ankle is swelling.

Who said I must

always love Nature?

And micro monsters?

*

Do we really love our planet planeta planeetta планета and nature natyra priroda природа? Are they ours or are we just one of the inhabitants? Are we simply greedy squatters, Hausbesetzer, using up resources far beyond our needs? What are our needs, actually насправді, for survival, or individual, economic економске, social социални, political политический, and others?

There are innumerable needs within each of us inhabitants on this Planet:

You want a new car auto кола and I want to fly away for a holiday ваканция.

You want to eat meat месо carn every day and I want new clothes to show off to others.

You want to… I want to… You want to… I want to… Vols… Vull… Végtelen. Endless. Endlos. Sonsuz.

*

You ask what love for nature has to do with our needs. You say we destroy nature because humanity is all bad, destructive, evil, paha, gonosz, böse, mal. Is it really? Or are we just blind, sokeita, pimedad, living in illusions and allusions and confusions and delusions, and without conclusions or solutions or fusions? Is humanity in fact the prisoner of its own wants and needs?

Poem IV

Carp Horse Sweat / Earth

Far below the golden fields

in the heart of the mountain

eternal night in dark halls

heavy feet tread on stones

horses go around, around

Far above on the earth

lie kidneys of the mountain

golden light in green water

ducky feet paddle away

horses go up and down

Far along the secret path

in intestines of the mountain

white crust on grey sand

doggy feet step gingerly

horses go blind, yes blind

Far back from the world

in the lungs of the mountain

deep lake with black floor

healthy feet jump on stairs

shoes get salty, so salty

*

Salt… Salt of the Earth. Salt and water. Tuz. Só. Sol. Salz. Water and salt. Our bodies need salt. But too much suolaa and too much saltpetre, too much Politik and too much nuclear bomb testing, too much displacement and too much of humanity – it becomes too much, zu viel, troppo, liikaa.

Poem V

Only

Camels are gone. Traces wiped away by devils, roaring sand.

Brilliant fungi shatter skies, raining ions, shake dunes awake.

Epilated bottom scintillates, pondering star competitors.

Turn back, you fish reed wolf hare fox boar tiger!

Even the swamp is better, but it is too late!

Now they say: you can endure survive subsist persist

and not go extinct (honestly, who cares about you?).

Impossible to halt mountain caps from melting and fading,

and rivers from tapering off to fields that should be less.

Reed huts floors roofs, cooked shoots, bury the dead in reed.

First left the marinka and scaly osman, then empty green

shallows, slimy banks, orphaned lake wandering –

you never knew where, but you followed it.

Turquoise summer day mirror blackens, wolves are shot

there never was much, but now nothing is left except lies.

Now they say: nothing alarming or treacherous, but we

had to cut down your reed forest, your livelihood,

because it was useless unproductive ineffective worthless.

 We must harness digressing waters, curb peregrination, or

even better solution: feed irrigation, scorch and raze lake bed.

Nothing and nobody can sleep, hide, prowl.

Decamp up your sticks, get to live in real house far away.

Now they say: get civilized complicated, no more fish-eating.

Crouching tiger will never return and

dragon is hidden in desert rags.

May there be a way!

*

Stop! Stop! Сmon!

Why cannot we give it up?

Stop! Stop! Prestati!

Why cannot we be satisfied with less?

Stop! Stop! Stoppa!

Why cannot we?

Poem VI

Commensality

you are nothing but a great ape

– may our cousins not be insulted! –

less than ninety-eight percent of genes divide you

from your dreams of being an alien on this planet

or ruling the world as the king of creation

maybe you have tamed the fire

to grill the steaks and

fill the stomach with protein

and developed weapons to kill any threats in sight

still you are hairless fearless careless

although you don’t eat much twigs anymore

your kindness when meeting friends

keeping old buddies when you age

aggression when feeling insecure

reckless play and youthful thoughtlessness

scratching backs getting groomed

including excluding fighting bonding

recognising your relatives by the nose

social hierarchy potential credential

your mating dating eating habits

even your faking shaking making it all up

they all betray your real character

– you did not invent biology –

a great ape just learned to play with fire

*

Humanity has created and invented so many things, you say. Look at what we have done! you say. Where are our cousins, serkut, neven, our hair-covered sisters, Schwestern, and brothers, braća? you ask. They are still in the jungle, dzsungel, džungla, cracking nuts and gathering fruits and shoots and roots without boots and suits.

But: would we be happier if we had remained in this primordial primateordial state?

We enjoy the thought of being happy, glücklich, lyckliga, onnellisia, felici õnnelikud.

We enjoy being dizzy and fizzy and busy.

We enjoy adrenalin and being hooked on dopamin.

And we enjoy the paradox paradoja paradosso of being happy – and feeling onneton õnnetud unhappy for being happy.

*

Poem VII

Writing ont he wall

Out of order: this world

Sixteen and rebellious, out of space in solemn congregation

hanging ties and strutting cocks compete for consideration

talk not listen: so, what do the dear young people here think?

World peace World understanding World future World love

World whatever which world are we chewing?

Where is the action to change our future?

Huge mouths and gold chains rattling, too small hands

never touched a real world or a day’s honest work

The world is your heritage your patrimony your legacy

You must change the world, grey hairs replay chorus

Got it, you are emasculated,

but why don’t you repair the world

before handing it over to me?

Now streets are filled with other sixteens like me

wanting the same as I did back then: fix the world for me

let me grow up in happy paradise fairy tale and serve me

Yes, I try to change the world and our future. I do my best.

And I want to ask the expensive mobile phone brand rucksack

virtual-world focused welfare rebels one simple question:

What are you ready to give up? Relinquish?

*

Our ancestors have been happily busy changing and transforming transplanting transmogrifying transogrifying this planet for many millennia, and we continue to follow in their footsteps, but on a far more massive scale. Our förfäder, Vorfahren have anthropocened the Planet for tens of thousands of years, and we continue to do the same. Our antepasados antenati esivanemad esivanhemmat őseink… it is so så zo easy to blame them. It is so easy lako to blame someone else. It is so easy helppoa to accuse and point fingers. It is so easy facile to continue living like we have done always mindig, and not think about small and big things or change lifestyles, stil života.

It is so easy to be lazy laisk laiska lat.

*

I have a conscience, Gewissen, and consciousness, Bewusstsein, and a shopping list. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I carry my shopping lista. I consult it and I edit it as I learn more about the world.

But it is only a simple insignificant Wunsch wish Liste, you say. That is true det är sant. But it is never going to happen, you say. Igen, igen, das stimmt. That is true dat is waar.

But if I would not have a wish list I would do nothing or very little. I would wander in the world without knowing where I am going or what I want or who I am.

Poem VIII

Shopping list

Information                                                                   real wirklich äkta todellinen echt

Clear air                                                                                           PRIORITY, TOP!

Rational thinking                                                       is this getting rare, or am i just getting old?

Clear water                                                                                                    top priority, this one, too!!

Responsible activities                                                            absolutely, absolutno, absoluutselt

Clean soil

Reusable alternatives                                                             getting there på väg მალე!

Clean food                                      health issue, but not only!

Efficient waste managment

Clean energy                                                                                                anybody against? 😉

Flexibility          hey, this one can be done with some effort, no need to shop for it

Clean production

Adaptive thinking                                                      ավելին!            gimme more!

Clean consumption

Understanding                                                            oh yes, ach ja

Clean future                                                                                  this is what we are workng for, right?

Sensible choices

Clean past                                                      that’s a bit more difficult

Reflective habits

Clean politics                                               no comment, but this is a TOP TOP PRIORITY

Cooperation                                                  this one i love, we need each other

Clean economy

Clarity about consequences                                             this should come earlier

Clean planet                                                 YES!!! DA! Evet! Carto!

Dialogue +  changing habits  + innovations  +  technical  &  mental  progress

*

When you go shopping Einkaufen, you also carry a wish list, but maybe not everything can be found in the shop butik Laden dyqan dükkân. Maybe not everything I wish for can be found in this world. I can wish wünschen önska toivoa, posso desiderare.

*

I can work to make at least some of my wishes come true. Some have become reality. Some are still in progress. And I am not alone. I am working with so many others who have other shopping lists, and yet some things on our lists are similar or the same.

And you can work, too auch också aussi myös.

What does your shopping list contain, for your life?