Mat Harvey, Totnes based Transition performance poet does a great one on Traydio ( like an audio Tube) in their December edition.
Having recently recovered from post traumatic Transition disorder in the belief that world olive oil supplies were about to run out he became inspired by a recent Schumacher conference on the theme of” Less is More”. And came up with a poem.
According to the man himself. “ The first thing you’ll notice about the piece is that it fails abjectly to embody the less is more brief itself, and goes on for ages. And- the word poem is maybe stretching it a bit. It’s somewhere between a wishlist, a list poem and partial paraphrasing of partially digested (and even more partially understood) snippets of talks…
Less is more
Can less be more, can more be less?
Well, yes and no, and no and yes.
Well more or less…
More bikes, fewer cars.
Less haze, more stars
Less haste, more time
Less reason, more rhyme
More time, less stress
Fewer miles, more fresh ( vegetables)
Fewer car parks, more acres of available urban soil
More farmers market’s, less produce effectively marinated in crude oil
Less colouring, more taste
More mashing, less waste
Fewer couch potatoes, more spring greens
Fewer tired tomatoes, more runner beans
More stillness , less inertia
Less illness, more Echinacea
More community, less isolation
Less just sitting there, more participation
More wells ( not oil one obviously),fewer ills
Fewer clean fingernails, more skills.
More co-operation, less compliancy
Less complacency, more self-reliancy
Less competition, more collaboration
Less passive listening, more participation
( Less repetition )
Less of a warm globe, more a chilly’un
More of a wise world, at least 34 fewer parts of CO2 per million
Les stress-related cardio-vascular and pulmonary failure
More nurturing quality time in the company of a favourite clematis or dahlia
More craftsmanship, less built-in obsolescence
More political maturity, less apparently-consequence-free extended
Adolescence.
More believed-to-be-beautiful. known-to-be useful things
Less cheap, pointless petroleum-steeped stuff
So Yes, less is more – and enough’s enough.
PS You can listen to Matt performing his poem on
http//transitionnetworknews.wordpress.com
PPS The last word from Matt:
Peak oil! I thought to begin with that the world’s supplies of olive oil were running dangerously low. I thought it’s the end of salad dressing as we know it. But it’s not. It’s OK. It’s bad, but it’s not as bad as that.
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