tell me a bedtime story, grandpa

what do they tell their grandchildren
for whom a heated planet is their home
will they be honest? tell the truth?
seated on the edge of their bed, ready for a bedtime story

I was a board member of a company
listed in the top 20
a pack of wolves we were
responsible for 35 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions

I made huge profits
setting new records my aim
to satisfy investors and personal gain

your swimming pool and private education
my dear children
are indeed built by global warming
and by billions of people suffering

on the edge of that bed
what do they tell their grandchildren
for whom a heated planet is their home

Notes

This poem uses the intimate setting of ‘telling a bedtime story’ to explore how CEO’s of fossil fuel companies would tell their grandchildren that they are responsible for the burning planet they live in.  



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