The End of the Age of Fire

"God announces himself with fire /
only because we have invented darkness, /
and when we try to emulate him, /
our own announcements - beacons /
lit across the forty thousand generations of the age of fire /
- take the form of tower blocks burning in the night, /
nuclear detonations turning the desert to glass, /
concentration camp chimneys, /
the ramparts of glaciers collapsing into the sea".

As the imperatives imposed on us by climate change grow ever more urgent, and world leaders gather in Glasgow at COP26 for what may be our last chance to correct the course we are on, this collection of poetry from Glaswegian poet Peter Clive reflects on how we arrived in this situation, and adds its author's voice to our collective plea for a sustainable future in balance with our environment.