Mount Everest
Eric Simonson
Antarctica
West Philippines Sea
Planet Earth
P.K. PageIt has to be spread out, the skin of this planet,
has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
and the hands keep on moving,
smoothing the holy surfaces.
`In Praise of Ironing', Pablo Neruda
It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her linens, The trees must be washed, and the grasses and mosses. and pleated and goffered, the flower-blue sea It has to be made bright, the skin of this planet
the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins
knowing their warp and woof,
like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.
It has to be loved as if it were embroidered
with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.
It has to be stretched and stroked.
It has to be celebrated.
O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it.
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet.
They have to be polished as if made of green brass.
The rivers and little streams with their hidden cresses
and pale-coloured pebbles
and their fool's gold
must be washed and starched or shined into brightness,
the sheets of lake water
smoothed with the hand
and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness.
It has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness
the protean, wine-dark, grey, green, sea
with its metres of satin and bolts of brocade.
And sky - such an O! overhead - night and day
must be burnished and rubbed
by hands that are loving
so the blue blazons forth
and the stars keep on shining
within and above
and the hands keep on moving.
till it shines in the sun like gold leaf.
Archangels then will attend to its metals
and polish the rods of its rain.
Seraphim will stop singing hosannas
to shower it with blessings and blisses and praises
and, newly in love,
we must draw it and paint it
our pencils and brushes and loving caresses
smoothing the holy surfaces.
The United Nations building,
New York City
`Planet Earth' has been chosen (by American National Book Award winner Marilyn Hacker) as the centrepiece of a year-long Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry sponsored by the United Nations. As part of this initiative, `Planet Earth' has been read aloud at several sites that are considered `international ground' - locations that are not owned by any one country, but rather locations that are owned jointly by the peoples of the world. The United Nations secretariat in New York City is one such site.
`Planet Earth' was read by mountaineer Eric Simonson at Everest Base Camp in Tibet (March 2001) and again at the summit (8000 meters / 22,000 feet) in May.
Paul Cullen, Station Leader, ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) Casey Station, Wilkes Land, Antarctica read the poem at 0130 hours Greenwich Mean Time on Friday 30 March 2001 at 66 degrees, 17 minutes South, 110 degrees, 32 minutes East, just a bit outside the Antarctic Circle.
Dr Carl Richter arranged to have `Planet Earth' read on board the scientific
drill ship JOIDES Resolution under way in the West Philippines Sea on Friday,
March 30 at 7pm local time. On or about latitude 17 degrees 41 minutes North,
longitude 137 degrees 55 minutes East.