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| Itaipu, from Wikimedia Commons |
ITAIPU- A POEM IN TWO VOICES
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Paraná River,
world’s seventh largest
natural border between
Brazil and Paraguay
is it possible
to harness
this immense power
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Guaíra Falls
twice Niagara’s height
twice Niagara’s flow
submerged forever
“Here seven visions,
seven liquid
sculptures
vanished
through
computerized calculations
of a country
ceasing to be human
in order to become
a chilly corporation,
nothing more. “
-Carlos Drummond de Andrade,
"Farewell to Seven Falls"
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Unprecedented cooperation
between Brazilian and Paraguayan
governments.
Argentina too!
Look!
Look what we can do
if we work together!
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Our people
are farmers.
Ten thousand
will lose their land.
Their homes.
Their livelihoods.
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Ninety percent of Paraguay’s power!
One fourth of Brazil’s!
We could be
burning
434,000 barrels
of oil
per day!
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Rare fruit trees,
orchids
animals species
Gone.
Breeding and
migration patterns
forever changed
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Itaipu!
One of the
seven wonders
of the modern world!
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2014
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2 comments:
The contrast in these two voices are amazing. I love the research that you needed to do. This is something awesome we should do in our classrooms...how CCSS :)
You captured the tension between the positives and negatives.
I'm struggling with the destruction that comes from these amazing feats of construction.
And in response, my poem for tomorrow will have exactly NOTHING to do with the Panama Canal.
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