The dual theme of my A to Z Challenge this year is the world of Commodities and Poetry Forms so the juxtaposition of these two themes may throw up some strange poems – could be a Heroic Ode to Heating Oil or will it merit a Haiku or a Haibun – whichever, I will be endeavouring to bring you interesting facts about commodities that may change the way you think about the stuff we variously depend on…
By commodity I mean certain items that are of both sufficient value/volume to be traded in special markets and are generally volatile enough to attract traders in “Futures” which are a way of hedging bets in the trading world of stocks, shares and commodities.
The A to Z Challenge runs throughout April and will consist of 26 posts – there are only a couple of letters for which I couldn’t find commodities but plenty of poetry forms to carry the day!
Worldwide Trade in Gasoline 2022 $16.86 Billion
Worldwide Trade in Gold 2022 $14.568 Trillion
When I first researched a list of “Commodities”, Gold and Gasoline were the only two which came up for “G” on the best list I could find, but what a pair! Gold has been sought for centuries – valued for its incorruptible nature though it has arguably been one of the greatest sources of corruption of the human heart. Similarly, crude oil – the source of Gasoline, has shaped the political map ever since its component “gifts” were discovered and exploited with disastrous consequences for many peoples and for the world and its environment as a whole. So I decided to deal with both these commodities together – one constant and immutable, the other volatile, expendable and dangerous…
Gasoline is used for transportation and energy production worldwide and is severely implicated in global warming as a result of CO² emissions. The spread of the motorcar through the 20th century reshaped our lives and living arrangements and wars have been fought to secure, steal or destroy other’s oil sources. Arguably. The US, as the largest consumer has fought an undeclared war against the Arab nations since the Second World War to assure the flow of oil although it began with an alliance with Saudi Arabia that promised guaranteed oil supplies in return for non-interference with the Wahabist-based sect of Islam which was espoused there. The consequences of that are another story, but Iraq and Libya (a country that shared its oil wealth amongst its people in an unprecedented way) are but some of the victims of US-led wars designed to keep the best oil flowing in the “right” direction. The oil lobby is the greatest source of “climate deniers” although the car lobby and many car drivers are equally denying that Climate Change is happening and man-made.
A salutary tale of the corruption that surrounds commodities such as oil (and gold), is the recent movie Killers of the Flower Moon, in which members of the Osage tribe of Native American Indians are at first surfeited in wealth (see above) derived from the rights to oil found on their land but how an unscrupulous local politician then seeks to murder them and acquire their lands into his family.
Gold has also been a source of conflict and a regulator of success in wars as this article outlines. Paper money used to be backed by reserves of the actual gold which it symbolised and this was known as the “Gold Standard” and although this system has been replaced everywhere by the Fiat system the prevalence of inflation as a result of the severing of the link, has risen worldwide. Having gold bullion reserves finances wars – for example, it is estimated that Californian gold was responsible for 10% of the cost of the American Civil War. The UK had access to gold produced by mines in its colonies such as South Africa which the mines were obliged to sell to the treasury whilst over the course of the two World wars, Germany had no such access and so the UK was able to pay for some of the food and armaments that came from the US (and borrowed the rest which it only paid off in 2006).
surface, while the ventilation shaft extends to a depth of 2,947m below the surface. That’s almost 3 kilometres…
Oil and thence Gasoline prices are also levers of power in war e.g. the embargo on Russian oil in response to the war in Ukraine although to pull those levers means adversely affecting the price of oil commodities and the US has to try to persuade its Arab producer allies to release more product to stabilise the market. The price of gold and oil or gasoline (their markets show some different behaviours) are some of the most important commodity trading standards in the market and the first thing that many in the know will look at each morning.
Of course, gold has decorative and cultural uses as well as bullion – jewellery, crowns, ceremonial cups and it is because it doesn’t tarnish or corrode that it has had this value since ancient times and so is one of the earliest commodities to be traded.
And so to the poem and having recently written a Ghazal, I decided to try a Glosa…
Glosa, or glose, is a form originally from Spain, featuring a quatrain epigraph, and four ten-line stanzas with the last line of each stanza being the corresponding line of the epigraph. The key to the form is that it incorporates the words of another. The glosser, or glosador, advertises a connection to a prior text.
Gold and Gasoline
Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold […]
Hoarded, bartered, bought and sold, […]
Price of many a crime untold …
Thomas Hood, ‘Gold’
Gold has commanded lust of kings
and beggars both who wish for things
or for gold’s sake alone
a useless dragon’s hoard
coins, bullion bars and rings
miners gave their lives for it
soldiers died protecting it
across the globe merchants trade
the metal that will never fade
Price of many a crime untold …
Shallow mines are damp and cold
deep in the Earth’s heat lies the gold
where miners in the new South Africa
still sweat to feed the dragon’s hoard
a ring with which to have and hold
a brooch to sparkle and attract the eye
a sovereign, symbol of King and country
pays for the soldiers’ dice with death
to die or win and maybe loot a little wealth
Price of many a crime untold …
And gasoline’s story is much the same
black gold fought over in the Great Game
of nations tampering with other nations
to keep their cars moving, lights burning
the destruction of Libya a tale of infamy
the treasures of Iraq to the winds scattered
because compared to oil, culture didn’t matter
and wars are won and lost by oil’s logistics
and the market’s fluctuating statistics
Price of many a crime untold …
Whilst gold has spawned so many crimes
it doesn’t threaten climate-changing times
it will not end our human hubris
and rarely even give us bliss
as when we ring the wedding chimes
both have brought us good and bad
and if we perish, though very sad
we only have ourselves to blame
for seeking gold and gas – the same
Price of many a crime untold …
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
A link to dVerse Poets Pub for their Open Link Night where I have decided to give this poem an airing…
Excellent.
Thanks Sue
Never thought how much these very different ‘commodities’ are intertwined.
Great article 🙂
Thanks Sarah – it was fun writing it…
Gold has corrupted people so much in my country (South Africa) that a lot of illegal mining is happening in the cities and suburbs, causing sinkholes, etc. that are at first blamed on gas-lines not being maintained… The sinkholes do look a lot like gas-explosions. Though I can’t imagine how desperate those people are to go underground in the conditions they do.
Ronel visiting for G: My Languishing TBR: G
Ghastly Ghouls
I hadn’t heard about that Ronel – that’s awful…
I enjoyed this post. My A to Z Road Trip is taking a circuitous route as I keep coming back to your site.
I’m not complaining lol
A lot of people find this weird, Andrew, but I can’t stand gold, and can only wear silver. I honestly cannot understand why anyone lusts after gold – or diamonds come to that, I much prefer amber and jasper – or why ‘miners gave their lives for it / soldiers died protecting it’. I think I understand ‘black gold’ a little better, but not the squabbles and wars fought over it. But you’re quite right: ‘Whilst gold has spawned so many crimes / it doesn’t threaten climate-changing times’.
I agree about Amber, and Jasper, Barbara and I never got around to marrying (in over 40 years) so I never wore a gold ring. Nice to hear you read yesterday Kim…
What an interesting and challenging form! Had not heard of a glosa. You explore the topic of gold deeply here…and, no pun intended, in many veins. Yes, my wedding ring is gold…I find it a “warm” color – on the other hand, my daughter will only wear “white gold”. So much of interest in what you’ve provided here.
White gold came into the Palladium entry of my A-Z – really enjoyed the OLN yesterday Lillian…
Humanity, progress ~ enemies of the people. Thank you for including the text, reinforces all that we are .. continue to be.
Now that you have thrown down the “Glosa Gauntlet” ~~~~ I must attempt one. Your poem is amazing!
As I said in the meeting – I think it would make a good prompt for the pub… I look forward to seeing yours – i wonder what you will choose to reference, Helen…
Thoughtful and spot-on accurate, Andrew. Greed of Gold and Oil will be the end of us.
I fear so Lisa – we don’t seem to be heeding the warning signs…
‘Tis the sublime obscenity — and supremest teacher of humility — that things of greater worth to homo sapiens would be the very instruments of the premature end of life on Earth. I’ll bet this has been the fate of sapience on many other worlds.
Look at Easter Island – cutting down all the trees to make rollers to move the heads – ruined the environment…
Very interesting. Poem and notes
Thanks for dropping bybmy blog
Much♡love
A treat ~~ spending a wee bit of time with you today! Cheers.
And you Helen – always a pleasure…
HI Andrew, I really enjoyed all the background and information you included in this post. Your poem is full of truth and I enjoyed reading it very much. South Africa does produce gold and also a lot of other minerals including platinum and coal. I have been down a gold mine with its narrow shafts. It is very hot in a gold mine. I’ve also been in a coal mine which is totally different, with wide tunnels and better ventilation. I would not want to be a miner.
My family visited South Africa in 1968 on our way to Australia by ship because the Suez Canal was closed due to the 6 day war – nothing new there… Thank you for visiting Robbie…
It must be very strange to go down a gold mine and think that it’s hot because you are getting near to the Earth’s molten mantle… As an ex Geography/Gology student, I would love to have the chance because as you say, most mines are cold damp places…
This post us illuminating and damning at the same time. What a desolation we humans seem intent on creating for ourselves.
Indeed Dora – sadly so…
The juxtaposition of gold-mining’s dark history and the perceived joy of wedding bells is pretty powerful.
I’m afraid it puts gold in a rather dark light Sunra but I guess that was the thing that emerged from my whole examination of commodities – we all accept products with little idea of what it has truly cost to produce them…
Thanks for the background information, Andrew. We, in India, are obsessed with gold. I enjoyed your poem.
Glad you enjoyed it Punam – thanks for visiting…