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Poetry

MasterChef

Murali Raman

Nature is the Master
The Cosmic Chef
that will never give up
Never say Never, she says.

Millennia of torture
Of rape plunder exploitation
At first tentative
Then greedily
Then brazenly
And then with impunity.
As carbon footprints
cover the green
with sooty, violent, destruction.

Humans offer palliative
barter-plantations of
forest travesties.
Fig-leaves for lush green cover
Poor, fake imitations
of her natural splendor
Which too die for want
of care.

But She's donned
her snow-white Chef's hat
Drawn her fangs
Banged down the pan
She turns on the heat
Flips over the earth
Flattening it with the pin
Basting it
Dousing it
with tsunamis and floods
Roiling it with earthquakes
Blowing hot
Blowing cold
Freezing
Searing
Sauteing
Boiling
Frying
Drizzling
Sizzling
Sprinkling
Beating
Squashing
Grinding
Steaming
Pressing
Squeezing
Without let, without respite

No.
Nature is not going down easy
Not without a helluva goddam fight to the finish.

This MasterChef
has all the Stars in the Universe.

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