Winds of Change - Water and Dust

Wasted Time and Talent


Like subjects of an obscure study
Hoping to find their names
Listed among the grant winners
Her photos stare into blank space
With the unrelenting dryness
Of an authoritative textbook
The climate scientist droned on
It was the 101st paper of a long career
By the 97th , written iconically in ’97
He was recognized as prolific
A champion in his field
Rain, or was it the lack of it?
No one seemed to know
Even fewer cared. It was written
On the faces of the listless audience
Seven CEUs was the incentive
Invented to fill the chairs
Placed haphazardly on the floor
Far from home
Far from the crises
That wait like forsaken lovers
Long ago given a number
Placed on a shelf
To catch the dust of good intentions.

by Alan Bender

This piece was written in response to the genuine commitment to change presented on the

Circle of Blue website