Roberta Writes – Reena’s Xploration Challenge #318 and Sunday Stills: Pink & Red #poetry #photography #fondantcats

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Reena’s Xploration Challenge #318

Reena’s Challenge is What I am not … The muse brought What I am with the inverse implied. You can join in Reena’s challenge here: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2024/02/15/reenas-xploration-challenge-318/

What I am?

What am I?

I belong

To a species

That destroys

Pollutes

And over consumes

The root cause

Of the critical endangerment

Of over 3,000 creatures

Worldwide

Displacing them

From their natural habitat

For personal gain

Over 2,000 additional beasts

Are endangered

As a direct result

Of my species actions

Some of my breed are creators

But not of art, music, or literature

There are those

But they hold no sway

Most are involved in work

That directly contributes to

The decimation of the planet

Some save lives

Using products that damage

The natural world

And have resulted

In uncontrolled population growth

My kind

Pollutes the ocean

Kills the fish, whales, and turtles

Invents weapons of mass destruction

To further blight

The distressed environment

I am one of my species

A contributor to all

And that makes me

A PEST!

This poem was inspired by Reena’s challenge which brought to mind the caterpillar in James and the Giant Peach who proudly calls himself a pest.

A pest as described by Wikipedia: A pest is any organism harmful to humans or human concerns. The term is particularly used for creatures that damage crops, livestock, and forestry or cause a nuisance to people, especially in their homes. Humans have modified the environment for their own purposes and are intolerant of other creatures occupying the same space when their activities impact adversely on human objectives. Thus, an elephant is unobjectionable in its natural habitat but a pest when it tramples crops.

Sunday Stills

Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge is red and pink. You can join in Sunday Stills here: https://secondwindleisure.com/2024/02/11/sunday-stills-monthly-color-challenge-red-and-pink-the-colors-of-life/

Dark pink amaryllis
Red arum lily
This photograph is from today – a profusion of pink hibiscus

The fondant cats are for Resa, fantastic artist and sustainable dress designer (you can view Resa’s sustainable evening gowns here: https://artgowns.com/). Resa posted a delightful post about a cat mural which you can read here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2024/02/13/kittens-under-a-bridge/. The fondant kittens are my return gift to Resa.

Peach kitten in a pink peony flower
Red kitten outside a pink peony flower
Pink kitten with Sir Chocolate
Dinah dreams of Wonderland in technicolour

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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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112 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Reena’s Xploration Challenge #318 and Sunday Stills: Pink & Red #poetry #photography #fondantcats”

  8. A power-packed post, Robbie! As are a 3-cat household these days, I must say that the fondant kittens are being more than appreciated by a loving heart. Pest? Perhaps, but in reality, I would imagine that our species has done far greater good than damage… (one can only hope). ❤

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    1. Hi Marsha, this is one of my favourite cakes. I made it for my husband’s birthday which took place in May 2020 during the Covid lockdown. It gave me a lot of pleasure to make all these kittens. When you try to remove them, they usually get damaged. Cakes are not meant to last.

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  26. Robbie,

    Your pest poem is crazy right one.

    I do my best to be kind to the planet and animals, but I am still human and still part of the problem.

    There are things we use, and we don’t even know that the thing contains something we are against.

    Example: My grandmother taught me how to make pies. I use the exact same vegetable shortening that she did. I have used it all of my adult life. I’d read the ingredients years and years ago. I knew it must have emulsifiers in it, but I’m grown up, my body already formed, healthy, make a fresh fruit filling without sugar…on and on….so I didn’t worry.

    Recently I had a peek at the ingredients again, out of curiosity, to see what emulsifiers were in it. I was surprised that there was only a couple, but was horrified to see that there was a lot of PALM OIL in it.

    Obviously now I will find a new product to bake pies with.

    Your flower pics are divine, stunning.

    Now for the best part

    THANK YOU!

    The kittens are wonderful, fabulous, stupendous and more. What a treat, and how lovely of you to think of me.

    I’ll put them in a post in the near ish future. I have the next few planned, but I grabbed the pics off your blog. So, I look forward to making a post with them.

    Have the best weekend!

    Resa 🤗💓

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    1. Hi Resa, I knew you would like the kittens. This is one of my favourite cakes. I adore cats. My garden is full of flowers languishing in the late summer heat. It is a lovely time of year. As for the poem, it was a study in irony. We consider creatures that damage our progress as humans to be pests but we are pests towards all creatures. It is very interesting how we view things. There are, of course, lots of marvels and wonderful things that humans have created.

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      1. I totally agree with everything you say.
        I adore the way you turned the table with your poem! Sorry for the late reply. Each of my blogs is linked to a different email, so When I’m on one, the other gets sidelined. Oh Well! 🤗

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  37. Wow, Robbie, the last line of your poem was a stunner! So powerful it gave me the chills. I was mesmerized. And beautiful photos of your pink flowers. And delightful cats for Resa. Thanks for the intense poem and the follow up smiles.

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      1. I know. 😞 I suffer from ecological and environmental mourning. It’s got so bad, I can’t cope with the news of the inexorable march of so many animals’ demise because of man. 💔

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