Karen Neuberg, the elephants are asking, Glass Lyre Press, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-941783-43-6. 38pp. $12.00
The call to activism is apparent in the Age of Trump and in Karen Neuberg’s latest chapbook, the elephants are asking, from Glass Lyre Press. With the escalating destruction of the planet and wildlife, Neuberg’s poetry has taken a new direction. The rising oceans are dying in a sea of plastic and fossil fuel. Trophy killers smile for selfies. The air is unfit to breath. Rainforests make way for humans, sending the original inhabitants into extinction. Ice caps are melting, and the last polar bears and penguins will die in captivity. If bees won’t be around to pollinate, humankind will disappear, a prediction given by Albert Einstein.
In Part I, Neuberg introduces the ecological emergency and describes its heartbreaking effects. Her poem, “Evidence,” tells of the wisdom of the oceans accrued over time. However, time is running out for the oceans. She alerts the reader that observation and tears aren’t enough:
Evidence is crude
& wide. Watch & watch more.
No time for complacency. Weeping
is not sufficient.
Her message intensifies in “Climate Lag Time.” This poem is more than excerpts from reports. Neuberg strings them together, word by word, into a visual necklace, camouflaged as a noose—a warning for the human race to take heed:
Another oil spill/pipeline rupture
Coral reefs dying around the world
Red algae in the arctic snows
Bees and other flying insect populations declining worldwide
Nuclear and methane leaks
Hottest days on record . . .
Her warnings are also for our future generations. Her poem, “Perpetuity,” predicts what children might have to face a hundred years from now. The fish would not be told, nor would the birds be warned that the water would be radioactive. The children wouldn’t be able to imbibe milk. Fathers would weep, as mothers place masks on their children. The final words, scarier than science fiction:
. . . Whoever remains
will hear the stories,
which will grow like cancers.
Whatever remains
will glow in the dark
bone by bone.
Her poem, “the elephants are asking—,” sums up what Neuberg means by “asking.”
The repetition of “asking” with exclamation marks, clearly expresses the urgency of the ecological crisis. From the elephants, bees, bats, dolphins, coral reefs, rivers, oceans, redwoods, rainforests, and more— “asking!” Even a baby’s toes, chubby arms, cheeks, and eyes are “asking!” The ending touches on a religious perspective: “. . . Asking! Even God is asking.”
In Part II, Neuberg focuses more on the consequences of climate change. She begins with “Old Game,” a poem about the last children on earth playing a game that was passed down from their parents. They pretend that they are animals—walk on all fours, jump, leap, snort, flap arms, and make animal-like sounds—recite each animal’s name. But this is not a happy game, because they are in mourning:
And with each name said,
a child raises an arm.
And this is the old game the children play.
And its name is Sorrow.
The poem, “If all I have is a teaspoon,” is perhaps the most ominous or hopeful piece in the book. Neuberg is trying to put out a raging inferno with a teaspoon of water. The ecological crisis is a wildfire that has gone global. She knows a teaspoon of water won’t halt or terminate the flames, but persistence is her goal:
unless I find a bucket to fill and pour,
or a power hose to flush it all away,
and I will never stop helping
the greening to return.
Karen Neuberg’s poems are touching and gut-wrenching, as well as compelling and educational. the elephants are asking is a call to activism. The environmental “fire” rages on, but watching the flames and crying isn’t going the solve climate change. Address the problems, even with a teaspoon filled with water. The author is asking!
Patricia Carragon
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