from a to a
or Getting Nowhere
it said
brother
the world
finding the freeway
to myself i put my foot
down to my own motive
floorboards asking the rear
-view what to do
next
the faster you
eat me up the more you
leave behind – you’ll see
more of me slower so why not
pull over ’cause this road is going
backwards and your incessant
tyres are speeding up
*
Ecology
rosemary –
of cold water.
tiny bubbles lined
those buds so
stalk kept opening
tiny plumes
though
begun to twist
(how I am)
blooms so
keep on
from the root.
Last night in
thinning dusk
I cut
one thick sprig
I sank in a cup
This morning in
windowed sun
the cup’s warm
insides –
delicately sheathed
all along the leaning
their pale blue –
flickering
down the length
like lit gas
some green-dark
needles already had
and blacken.
That’s how we seem
upon this planet:
one shoot whose
delicately cupped
for now
opening even as we
separate
*
plutonium
cluster out seeking its lung – your every
while in saucers of coral our hothouse
gills to spore you – till even amoebae
whole – wobbling with energy the way
the peppercorn molars alight on – o see
on another as a child would in ochre –
none may sit at – till brain-dust carries
blue circle of planet with one winking star
your pocket
*
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or contact Mario at mmpetrucci@hotmail.com
now that wind has confused itself with
water we at last breathe you – each caviar
germ jiggling & sliming with canker –
fungi continue – rise & fan their white
in basalt oceans frisk you & take you in
the jowls of a diner might try to subdue
how we smear ourselves in elements one
how urgent we are to extend that table
on dry surf on fire to complete this grey-
& we are that grit crackling the seam of
... Launched on World Environment Day 2026 ...
These poems by Ecopoet and environmentalist Mario Petrucci offer a series of remarkable encounters with the natural world. They question and warn, while finding wonder and beauty amid the sobering realities of climate change.
The flowers may seem “prodigal” but it’s their vulnerability that sharpens the poet’s attention. We look through both ends of the telescope to view the intricate lives of plants and insects as vividly as the abstract grandeur of the cosmos.
Sometimes the two come together; here, rare seeds are akin to stars:
“Each tiny face has its look:
The vigour of Petrucci’s language shows us the world as a place that is intensely, though precariously, alive. He is a scientist as well as a poet, and these heady encounters are energised by that juxtaposition.
the black-shiny. The varnishy-brown.
The specks too – it’s like telling stars
apart, rolling them thumb to palm.” from ‘Seedwoman’
“A prolific and powerful poet, known for his themed collections that explore love and loss, scientific consciousness, the natural world…” Poetry International
“Petrucci is one of the very few current British poets to have had a scientific training… he can be seen as akin to European scientist-writers such as Miroslav Holub and Primo Levi.” British Council
“Compelling visions that challenge the way we relate to our environment.” British Council
“Mario’s poems pull no punches – they will intrigue, delight, terrify and provoke at every level of emotion, learning and action.” The Poetry Society (World Environment Day)
Mario Petrucci is an early founder and leading proponent of Ecopoetry. Performer, academic, environmentalist and PhD physicist, as well as translator, educator and broadcaster,
his many awards include the Arvon Prize, Bridport Prize, Irish Times Perpetual Trophy, and London Writers Competition (four times). Heavy Water: a poem for Chernobyl (Enitharmon)
was hailed as “heartfelt, ambitious and alive” by The Daily Telegraph and “poetry on a geological scale” by Verse (USA). Petrucci’s sustained mediations between ecology and poetry
– particularly via the UN – galvanise the role of the arts in environmental discourse. In 2026, Petrucci was appointed Ecopoetry Network Coordinator for the Planetary Arts Movement
by the World Academy of Art and Science.
* * * VIDEO excerpt from Prodigal Flowers (Ten Ecopoems) .... (not for redistribution) * * *
Lion's Tooth - a message from nature: love-loss in the many eyes of the common, yet exquisite, dandelion...
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Acumen 107 (Andrew Geary; September 2023).