Growing up slowly from the departed
Plants that lined the rivers like lakes
An emergent wind carries the weight
Of our particular millstone
Saturday, October 24, 2009
349 : Paulette C Turcotte
If I were to lie down in the moss with my ear to the goings on of the earth,
I would gladly tell you all that I hear. If I had my ear to the ground, if I were
once again lying in the moss, I would know the secrets of the earth and oh,
I would tell you. Who Listens? Who hears?
348 : Liesl Jobson
Before my newborn ears heard rivers,
a cipher stamped a number I now cannot forget.
I'm waiting for the goddess to whisper
my real name.
347 : Thanasis Maskaleris
…trying to block off, as in a nightmare, the new tumbleweeds–
plastic bags, billowing in the wind, descending on the littered shore.
How much longer will Persephone return, to bring her green Spring
to our choking Earth
346 : Adam Roberts
LAST LINES OF A POLITICAL SESTINA (MOBILIZING)
and change happens into you.
The ground is littered with stanzas.
A bicycle is a small thing that works.
As usual, you give me back myself.
345 : Maya Malhar
| water deep blue, sky azure air invigorating, crisp, pure. newborn, bouncing, secure end of an era |
344 : Elaine Kahn
I could be crystallized
spread like a young
mother, I could buzz the
fungus clear off.
343 : Michelle Lyons
If a tree falls in the middle of our minds
Swearing he tried-- but could not find the forest
Will the temporal lobes still find the echo?
Oh riddle, don't die.
Swearing he tried-- but could not find the forest
Will the temporal lobes still find the echo?
Oh riddle, don't die.
342 : Jessica Young
I picture how paper gives into fire, the way its flat edges curl
first reaching out, then folding into themselves.. Then I think
of the wisped sounds that are barely there, and yet are there.
The reaching out, the reaching
first reaching out, then folding into themselves.. Then I think
of the wisped sounds that are barely there, and yet are there.
The reaching out, the reaching
340 : Andy Peterson
last leaves
scatter form. the city tree
a a_eae eo__._e_.i_.__ee
i forget my hamburger
scatter form. the city tree
a a_eae eo__._e_.i_.__ee
i forget my hamburger
339 : Chris Balmer
after the beginning of our endlessness
you said
where is the place that holds our falling,
oh that day in the grass
you said
where is the place that holds our falling,
oh that day in the grass
338 : Carol Dorf
Marrow: Aquifer
Stygobites retreat from light in their aquatic universe.
When geologists pump out water to mine or to nourish cattle, every
creature that has evolved in the isolated calcrete aquifer dies.
337 : Anna Elena Eyre
Liquid Constituent
water webs currency
solar disinfection leaches
BPA tax-toxicity
336 : Toby Bielawski
Postcard
Dear Alaska, visiting you when I was
Younger, I saw Mendenhall Glacier. Today,
I remember everything it said: we are
Visiting always.
335 : Erina Harris
At the birthday party for the sky we built the smoking tower.
"The sky is one and it shall have a candle!"..we cried over
and over...And then I turned and looked at you: "Whatever will we do
when it is two!"
"The sky is one and it shall have a candle!"..we cried over
and over...And then I turned and looked at you: "Whatever will we do
when it is two!"
334 : Glenn D'Alessio
A Crack in Glass Can Reach 3,000 Miles-per-hour
A crocodile swallows stones to dive deeper.
The Maldives are displaced by inhumanities’ weight
spreading fossilized plants and animal remains
across a fragile planet.
The Maldives are displaced by inhumanities’ weight
spreading fossilized plants and animal remains
across a fragile planet.
332 : Sidik Fofana
There we shall lay, scattered like ape skulls
Or clues in god's toolbox
Long gone the very matter that explained
What happened
331 : Sarah Bartlett
Oh no, it's the environment on lead
guitar. We cry Free Bird! Free Bird!
but it just stands there, watching
the orange flames.
guitar. We cry Free Bird! Free Bird!
but it just stands there, watching
the orange flames.
330 : Cherie Spaulding
Body Worlds
(after the exhibit in Chicago)
Living lips
engorged with a thousand capillaries
must be kissed--
frequently!
(after the exhibit in Chicago)
Living lips
engorged with a thousand capillaries
must be kissed--
frequently!
329 : Linda Lee Crosfield
Sun and moon take turns presiding
over this tiny sphere we live on
pushing light through to the darkest places
trusting we'll eventually see what we're doing.
328 : Deborah Gilchrist
the old woman stoops
softly plants a kiss and an ear
on the sleeping child
and weeps
softly plants a kiss and an ear
on the sleeping child
and weeps
327 : Pamela Porter
Windswept bluff, cusp of inlet and sea,
that bald eagle pair call to each other --
a fluttering song, an impossible music,
the tenderness of years.
326 : Greg Bachar
The little stone hits the big stone and bounces off.
The big stone doesn't move. Illumination is a pretty word.
We’re going to need a lot to move that stone.
Illumination.
The big stone doesn't move. Illumination is a pretty word.
We’re going to need a lot to move that stone.
Illumination.
324 : Alan Felsenthal
in a neglect of ladder,
a refuse of regard, habit
of matter to sift through slope,
inverted region.
a refuse of regard, habit
of matter to sift through slope,
inverted region.
323 : Coleman Hepner
..............................................Empty oceans are left. Forests, lifeless
.............. Nothing but trash and baking dirt. Ghosts haunt the waste land we once called home
............................................................Nothing left now
................................................How could we be so blind?
322 : Travis Carter
Changing exponentially
A most hideous metamorphosis
A majority of inhabitants unable to be bothered
A poem will help
321 : Elise Wang
We live because of these, she said, these things
that are still.
Budded in the tips of branches, wake
that are still.
Budded in the tips of branches, wake
four-folded in the snow.
320 : Kevin Holden
Through time to black powder chrysalis blooming
In the brainstem, the trees of birds, or
The flame turns sand to glass and we hear only
Our own names.
In the brainstem, the trees of birds, or
The flame turns sand to glass and we hear only
Our own names.
319 : R. Scott Rideout
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
The balding man with the spaulding crayon
sits in the grass
by the banks of the mill river
and can never ever tell a lie
318 : Nancy Eaton
Eternity
and the moon was rising in the east.
Canada geese were gathering to fly south
for the winter.
317 : Rob MacDonald
REMORSE
Up from the dust of the west,
lightning sends a message
to the heavens, dots and dashes
for cover.
316 : Scott Mansfield
three days of cold wind and constant rain
makes me yearn for climate change
blue skies and sunshine
NOW
makes me yearn for climate change
blue skies and sunshine
NOW
315 : Naomi Benaron
Drought
October chuffs to its end and still
heat pours from the sun’s chimney.
The train of global warming’s gone express –
destination: Auschwitz Earth.
October chuffs to its end and still
heat pours from the sun’s chimney.
The train of global warming’s gone express –
destination: Auschwitz Earth.
313 : Ellen Thurmond
Orange sky thick with grit.
Skeletal trees reaching for the space above the rubble
piled over Earth. Her bodies fragmented by fear
and a desire to be the god of all except one's self.
312 : JoAnn Balingit
Many Moons
“Many moons! Many moons!” he cries as he breaks from me,
face to the sky, small and running down the slope, arms wide.
“But I only see one moon—” “No! Many moons!” and
“Save the moons!” he cries.
311 : Leonora Zoninsein
eart
moving from (living) the animal
we neither use our mind to care
a parody of proud inheritance
the habit at polluting
310 : Kristina England
The Ice Storm
took down trees, telephone lines.
Wires sparked against my car
as I followed the moonlight
home to you.
309 : Tony Barnstone
Planet Elegy
Out the plane window: rock outcrop hilltops with linguini-crazy roads,
fields between freeways and golf carts like lice in their bright green hair,
the sad, folded elephant skin of mountains, the sunset clouds spilled,
entrails of a gutted beast.
308 : Jill Darling
lift lament red petals against horns sound
the dramatic finish fall scattered
dances where orchestrated minus attention
falter or
307 : Dot Devota
H u m a n A c t i v i t y
to stop practically at
the present moment---what
bizarre, tasteless food
we've grown
to stop practically at
the present moment---what
bizarre, tasteless food
we've grown
306 : Soham Patel
Destinations towards home travel with us like coal resting inside the mountain does towards light
bulbs. We lounge back in the dark so to save energy. They say the answer is just one left turn away and
that if we all keep the lights off, Appalachia can stop coughing. The very trains that take the water to our
wells will have to wait back by the beach.
305 : Julie Mahfood
Going Coastal
fifteen years later, she’s living in vancouver
in montreal, weather reminiscent without
mountains, february bulbs. in the suburbs
umbrellas bloom
304 : Steve Caratzas
Before I forget again, leave me adrift
in more water than we know what to do with,
defenseless. Knee-deep, navel-deep, neck-deep:
the river's rising.
in more water than we know what to do with,
defenseless. Knee-deep, navel-deep, neck-deep:
the river's rising.
303 : Sarah Calhoun
This sky, a golden blister tasting like sulfur bombs and sweet molasses.
Reminds me of the caramels I used to put in your pockets.
Later I would watch you throw the wrappings on the ground.
I followed right behind.
Reminds me of the caramels I used to put in your pockets.
Later I would watch you throw the wrappings on the ground.
I followed right behind.
302 : David Weinstock
ROWING
To go forward, we sit backwards,
and pull with all our strength
hoping we can get from 387
back to 350.
To go forward, we sit backwards,
and pull with all our strength
hoping we can get from 387
back to 350.
301 : Sam Witt
EURYDICE 3.5/CODA
All of this happens behind the Gods’ empty, empty pupil,
Look back over your shoulder //The polar ice caps are melting for good but tonight
////.//I’ll disappear into shelf after continental shelf of glacial ice collapsing: into 2 bodies,
yours and mine:
300 : Department of Posthumous Letters
WENT TO THE INFECTED MAN FOR A HANDSHAKE
The calculations came. We cut them
with baking soda. If "hit me" was a literal translation
of our hope to be lived in, then yes,
be literal.
The calculations came. We cut them
with baking soda. If "hit me" was a literal translation
of our hope to be lived in, then yes,
be literal.
299 : Daniel Smith
The mild summers temperature is low
I stepped outside to the chill of a cold rain
The climate has changed this year
It is July
I stepped outside to the chill of a cold rain
The climate has changed this year
It is July
298 : Sawako Nakayasu
"congratulations on your (ongoing) destruction"
that wave that bellows or roars or howls into itself
into gray lies in a white pocket in a metallic desert in a
blank sheet of paper burning
that wave that bellows or roars or howls into itself
into gray lies in a white pocket in a metallic desert in a
blank sheet of paper burning
297 : Nicole Steinberg
Nocturne
Never mind this nixed nirvana; nourished by nitrous
nail polish, I’ll be nefarious in the netherworld: nude
& noxious in the nylon nest, numerating the nimbi of
nucleotides. (Neptune’s next.)
Never mind this nixed nirvana; nourished by nitrous
nail polish, I’ll be nefarious in the netherworld: nude
& noxious in the nylon nest, numerating the nimbi of
nucleotides. (Neptune’s next.)
296 : Lisa R. Smith
faithful, silent witness to birth, struggle, death;
selfless, present, nuturing, protecting, giving as a best-imagined lover;
supple fortitude, untouching embrace, eternal memory;
arborial sentinel on lifelong watch
selfless, present, nuturing, protecting, giving as a best-imagined lover;
supple fortitude, untouching embrace, eternal memory;
arborial sentinel on lifelong watch
294 : Patria Rivera
First breath
From sea, salmon trail
calm river waters to spawn
in land of first breath—
now gone.
From sea, salmon trail
calm river waters to spawn
in land of first breath—
now gone.
293 : Dimitri Basilakos
More on swans
after poem 262
Twenty years ago by a man-made lake a swan took the shoe
off my foot. It didn't so much hiss as
choke to death. Whatever they tell us,
I wouldn't listen.
after poem 262
Twenty years ago by a man-made lake a swan took the shoe
off my foot. It didn't so much hiss as
choke to death. Whatever they tell us,
I wouldn't listen.
292 : Karen Wood Hepner
we went to the mall for sweaters and scented markers
and ate corn dogs and flirted
and drew on each other with our scented markers
naked like ghosts
and ate corn dogs and flirted
and drew on each other with our scented markers
naked like ghosts
291 : Erika Lorentzsen
dusk, a witness, sacrifices for an imagined city,
a place filled with many visions, a banquet, one life,
many, captive to its acts
of collective alarm.
a place filled with many visions, a banquet, one life,
many, captive to its acts
of collective alarm.
290 : Barbara Sabol
El Nino?
Spooked by streets exuding fresh worm-pong washed over concrete
in a warm rain when here it is, almost Christmas. Red, blue, yellow bulbs
call from blooming bushes - lights and odd buds each announcing
its own strange holiness.
Spooked by streets exuding fresh worm-pong washed over concrete
in a warm rain when here it is, almost Christmas. Red, blue, yellow bulbs
call from blooming bushes - lights and odd buds each announcing
its own strange holiness.
289 : Elizabeth Greene
So many homes are gone:
why do we change
the weather of this world
for cold cash?
why do we change
the weather of this world
for cold cash?
288 : Paige Pancratz
Tell me again how it used to be,
how it's supposed to be.
Write your words as if you can
create safety.
how it's supposed to be.
Write your words as if you can
create safety.
287 : Mary Hutchins Harris
where is the tree, they will ask me,
where is the tree you climbed
and I will only be able to answer
where is the bird
where is the tree you climbed
and I will only be able to answer
where is the bird
285 : Heather Berlowitz
*And Then the World Abruptly Ended
"I could get used to this global warming thing,"
she smiled and sighed, coyly removing
her*
"I could get used to this global warming thing,"
she smiled and sighed, coyly removing
her*
284 : Becca Klaver
Global Weirding
The gilded ship slashed & gashed,
oil oozing, mushy lifeboats out to sea --
& all along the sooty shores tourists trilling
Me Muh Me Me Me
The gilded ship slashed & gashed,
oil oozing, mushy lifeboats out to sea --
& all along the sooty shores tourists trilling
Me Muh Me Me Me
283 : Emily Kendal Frey
Driving 1-5 down the grated
orange sky, grasshoppers frying on my fine
thigh hairs Do you or don't you
unbidden break?
orange sky, grasshoppers frying on my fine
thigh hairs Do you or don't you
unbidden break?
281 : Sam Pereira
The Turkish Did It
Suddenly, gas fumes all the way from Istanbul
Penetrated my front door. It’s always the Turkish,
I wept in California, driving my Corvette
Across the Delaware.
Suddenly, gas fumes all the way from Istanbul
Penetrated my front door. It’s always the Turkish,
I wept in California, driving my Corvette
Across the Delaware.
280 : Richard Greenfield
Irrigation
I thought I reached the reservoir (gone) I felt North in my coat the mapped currents (gone)
in my pocket where I thought drought they the city thought druthers (gone) you greenlawn
bastards there will be no more (ok?) (gone) there will be no more
I thought I reached the reservoir (gone) I felt North in my coat the mapped currents (gone)
in my pocket where I thought drought they the city thought druthers (gone) you greenlawn
bastards there will be no more (ok?) (gone) there will be no more
279 : Mary Jo Bang
Lions and Tigers: The Escaped Animal Was Bent to the Trainer’s Will
We put you in the circus. Was that a good idea? And now
There are so few of you. Why why why why why
Why why why why why why
We put you in the circus. Was that a good idea? And now
There are so few of you. Why why why why why
Why why why why why why
278 : Giancarlo Campagna
we lift to our mouths plastic containers
stealing a living air while the black bear
gets a whiff of us eating ourselves into
a diet of remorse
stealing a living air while the black bear
gets a whiff of us eating ourselves into
a diet of remorse
277 : Lucile Barker
Always the catch in the throat
The cough that can’t escape
Just a slight hovering of a breath
Not taken
The cough that can’t escape
Just a slight hovering of a breath
Not taken
276 : Charles Denson
Single Eye
Horseshoe crab
breeding ground
for 350 million years—
time is running out
Horseshoe crab
breeding ground
for 350 million years—
time is running out
275 : Clare Ramsaran
dry trees crackle
with unconscious blossoming
slow sonnets fade and curl
dust echoes
with unconscious blossoming
slow sonnets fade and curl
dust echoes
274 : George Higgins
Clouds of jet fuel,
halos of warmth, radiate,
mimicking the orange sun that just set
in the Coliseum.
halos of warmth, radiate,
mimicking the orange sun that just set
in the Coliseum.
273 : Rick Benjamin
Whales singing out lust for Salt Water's body, bees' hum-drunk on even
the idea of honey, mosquito's high-pitched cry for human blood. I can
no longer make any claims for the sound of my own voice, though still
some days I can hear hear it's heart.
the idea of honey, mosquito's high-pitched cry for human blood. I can
no longer make any claims for the sound of my own voice, though still
some days I can hear hear it's heart.
272 : Kristin Anderson
You didn't have time to carpool only
wanted to get home after soccer practice before
dark and relax. Because it was a Long Day. a deep breath.
exhausted.
wanted to get home after soccer practice before
dark and relax. Because it was a Long Day. a deep breath.
exhausted.
271 : Kim Tingley
Along Route 9 wind turbines spin hypnotically over fields of sun-ripening corn.
On Vernon solar panel power flashes amber light where children cross, safely, to school.
These routes of beauty, congested with my own car’s emissions.
My children, our world, their future.
On Vernon solar panel power flashes amber light where children cross, safely, to school.
These routes of beauty, congested with my own car’s emissions.
My children, our world, their future.
270 : Jeff Nagy
The elephant's trump won't, nor will the crane's
knotted crosshand like the heart's magnetic veins
palm, purple, orient it, tell the weathervanes
when the weather wanes.
knotted crosshand like the heart's magnetic veins
palm, purple, orient it, tell the weathervanes
when the weather wanes.
268 : Joseph Cooper
Comes a night, a kind of choreography
When she is still a wet roadmap
A grizzly scene, fleeing
A fretted sun.
When she is still a wet roadmap
A grizzly scene, fleeing
A fretted sun.
267 : Lynn Xu
The trees cried and sucked away.
The one unmixing night
From night. Song we woke to
Lay between us.
The one unmixing night
From night. Song we woke to
Lay between us.
265 : JoAnne Growney
The Spider
Spinner of intricate, twenty-inch silk food snares.
Twenty inches—not fifty or two hundred.
She knows the limits to her senses. Humans
keep building bigger webs.
Spinner of intricate, twenty-inch silk food snares.
Twenty inches—not fifty or two hundred.
She knows the limits to her senses. Humans
keep building bigger webs.
264 : Ellen Grace Picker
the hair you grew long just so it could
sweep across your face on those brief fall days.
i've tried learning the slow way, i've tried
doing the hard way.
sweep across your face on those brief fall days.
i've tried learning the slow way, i've tried
doing the hard way.
262 : Amanda Deutch
Coney Island Creek
A conference of swans on a polluted creek tells us
what to do. We don’t listen, afraid
of their hiss. A bite from a swan’s beak can
break a human’s arm.
A conference of swans on a polluted creek tells us
what to do. We don’t listen, afraid
of their hiss. A bite from a swan’s beak can
break a human’s arm.
261 : Scot Siegel
PARADIGM SHIFT
Raise your hand if you give a damn
about Global Climate Change
This could be the end of the world; or
The beginning of a new one. (Are we in it?)
Raise your hand if you give a damn
about Global Climate Change
This could be the end of the world; or
The beginning of a new one. (Are we in it?)
259 : Robin Lim
Hummingbirds live only a few seasons, all of them outdoors.
The only way to catch a bird who can never stop trembling,
is to stand still and emit the odor of pollen, It makes absolutely no sense what
we humans sell our lives for.
The only way to catch a bird who can never stop trembling,
is to stand still and emit the odor of pollen, It makes absolutely no sense what
we humans sell our lives for.
258 : Margot Glasspiegel
The weatherman is missing hiding slightly off the chart
Telling clouds how to gather —
Where it’s going to rain
But not where you can hide.
Telling clouds how to gather —
Where it’s going to rain
But not where you can hide.
257 : Brice Bogher
"So we'll go no more a-lekking," bubbled some chiclids.
"Lake Victoria's receded beneath a sandy lid."
"Who gives a thought to lekking?" Victoria snapped back,
then powdered up her bruises, and wore a turtleneck.
"Lake Victoria's receded beneath a sandy lid."
"Who gives a thought to lekking?" Victoria snapped back,
then powdered up her bruises, and wore a turtleneck.
256 : Heidi Greco
jellyfish billow like leaky parachutes
starfish with too many legs scrabble
over each other, blanket the bottom
of a stagnant sea.
255 : Margaret Foley
Some Force for it
Indolent uncouth Willard willows, following Tortured peat hags finished with
Dancing Dybukim dycrasia, hiding her, hindering her greenest drapers of Babylon
give it one more tangled Dyne, simple rubbing belts, for tires and oak wheat wind, feet curling,
for not one of us can blame Dione
254 : Maureen Alsop
Sweetheart
The cool field of grass, once where you loved. Watermark. The sky
never left your mind. And out to the hotpink sea the boats had gone. Doves
among the surefooted parakeets and finches shivered and sang. Goddamn. Where, in the weedgreen traces did you go.
253 : Monica Bergers
It had not been a regular kind of night, certainly. After supper, when
Joel and the others
would be finishing the work, corralling the chickens in the coop
leveling the marks
pocked and driven into the dirt by the horses and wagon,
old Brechka brought out the fiddle
Joel and the others
would be finishing the work, corralling the chickens in the coop
leveling the marks
pocked and driven into the dirt by the horses and wagon,
old Brechka brought out the fiddle
252 : Penelope Scambly Schott
Climate Change in Portland, Oregon
This way-too-orange extravagance of fall,
after a winter too stormy, summer too hot,
and the two-legged citizenry of the planet,
too many of us, too foolish.
251 : Athena Kildegaard
Monarchs don't come anymore on their trek
to Michoacan, though the milkweed is thick.
I used to mark their arrival on the calendar.
Now I conjure ghosts.
to Michoacan, though the milkweed is thick.
I used to mark their arrival on the calendar.
Now I conjure ghosts.
250 : Danielle Gordon
Jonas brother's promise ring
Taken by the HIV man
Of too much sun, not enough bum
Ozone goodbye
Taken by the HIV man
Of too much sun, not enough bum
Ozone goodbye
248 : Meghan Brinson
Cloisonne, enamel in a bee's cell cooked to hard glass.
Traditional colors: green, blue, brown, red. Metalsmiths shape
flowers, paisley, swans, leaves. What are we making
with our golden oven?
247 : S.A. Standish
and materializes the silhouettes
of fishermen
seizing at the purple air in their lungs
246 : Emily Morgan Thompson
winding ivy searching white was reaching up.
something quiet and old inside it
made a beautiful lasting sound like kids
laughing in the yard.
245 : M. L. Williams
As pages dim with every blackening word
(write “coal,” write “oil”), our darker world feeds
A fever lies can’t cure -Not a fleeting blush,
A bleeding out.
(write “coal,” write “oil”), our darker world feeds
A fever lies can’t cure -Not a fleeting blush,
A bleeding out.
244 : Linda Benninghoff
Polar Bear
Swimming from ice floe
to ice flow, the distance
gets longer, the white bear
shakes out its fur, reckons,
hangs onto what its lips can barely hold.
243 : Grace Savides
See them flee-
the air is far too warm here
the snow erodes the soul,
we give you back your head.
the air is far too warm here
the snow erodes the soul,
we give you back your head.
242 : Nick Vittum
Precipitous transmutation
Winters now are grey slush, summers grey rain. Slugs
flourish in the garden. Our grandchildren will cherish them
as naked escargot, in their homes in the Laurentian jungles,
the Amazon dessert.
Winters now are grey slush, summers grey rain. Slugs
flourish in the garden. Our grandchildren will cherish them
as naked escargot, in their homes in the Laurentian jungles,
the Amazon dessert.
241 : Don Brennan
Don't feel bad about our planet
She'll cool back down on her own
After a millenium without us around
She'll cool down.
240 : Kurt Heintz
Moon jellies in tides escaped from the Gulf's own Dead Zone
blocked our sight of the surface and boat from 30 feet below.
We originally thought, "Such nice warm seas." Witnessed:
astringent, pulsing, brainless regret.
blocked our sight of the surface and boat from 30 feet below.
We originally thought, "Such nice warm seas." Witnessed:
astringent, pulsing, brainless regret.
239 : Ann E. Michael
Rescue & Losses
Suburbs saved the white-tails, scourged
the bobcat, spilled grass seed over farmland
over forest along the creek banks—
...................................crippled us all.
Suburbs saved the white-tails, scourged
the bobcat, spilled grass seed over farmland
over forest along the creek banks—
...................................crippled us all.
238 : Sue Chenette
At the rally
We listen politely, applaud each speaker and singer in turn,
smile at the young man who hands round the Kyotoplus petition.
Someone wears a polar bear costume, fleecy white ears
bobbing against a ragged sky.
237 : Cara Benson
The leap of the sparrow from the branch and the leap of the child to his mother’s
...waiting
and the leap of the angel to the blue swirled earth
do not but worship the leap I make to you.
you, who I yet
236 : George Einar
AGAWA BAY, for Sue
Their toes mushed soft clumps of green lake weed as they walked barefoot hand in hand in the warm shallows of the beach of pebbles washed smooth by the waters of time.
Their shared gaze of reflection cast southward across the great lake to the vast deserts of Michigan, Wisconsin and the drifting sands of a paradise lost to the vaporizing indifference of the Sun’s rays.
The shared nightmare of a future lost to a waterless world of tortured baked clay, rock, sand and dust wrought discomfort and anxiety as the collective vision twisted and contorted their souls.
Awaking to one another, birdsong, the sweet smell of fresh cut Wisconsin clover realizing it’s not too late.
235 : Katerina Fretwell
Dear Earth, forgive us past, present
for paving, shrinking and trashing
your wild, finite, life-giving beauty.
We kneel and seed.
for paving, shrinking and trashing
your wild, finite, life-giving beauty.
We kneel and seed.
234 : Jane Lin
Spiders in the mesh, drowned then dried, contracted to a bud.
Leaf and needle, silt of the shingles, sludge and rain—rooftop
harvest discarded at the first frost. Crack of the hose coiled,
trickle of ice melt—
Leaf and needle, silt of the shingles, sludge and rain—rooftop
harvest discarded at the first frost. Crack of the hose coiled,
trickle of ice melt—
233 : Ruth Lepson
we were just beginning to understand
the animals, including ourselves --
the giant squid its enormous intelligence
as the Earth ended
the animals, including ourselves --
the giant squid its enormous intelligence
as the Earth ended
232 : R. Joyce Heon
In Victorian homes the aspidistra grew
in chilly corners, dark and choked with
coal dust...But the aspidistra never was
a hothouse plant.
in chilly corners, dark and choked with
coal dust...But the aspidistra never was
a hothouse plant.
231 : info@bankofindia.co.uk
Estimado amigo,
Yo soy el Sr. Sha Navas, Director Ejecutivo y Director Financiero del Banco de España, Londres, 4 º piso Oficina, 63 Queen Victoria Street, Londres EC4N 4UA.I una sugerencia de negocio asegurado para you.if interesado ponte en contacto conmigo en: shanavasindia09 @ gmail.com. Considera, el Sr. Sha Navas.
230 : Ashley Trumbo
I think my fear comes from
chance of death and you'd
think shouldn't that be a way
to wake me up
chance of death and you'd
think shouldn't that be a way
to wake me up
229 : Brian Burch
LAST AUTUMN
Leaves fall, going from green to red to crumbling ash.
The ashes blow away.
No rain....No snow....No renewal next year.
Leaves fall, going from green to red to crumbling ash.
The ashes blow away.
No rain....No snow....No renewal next year.
228 : Peter J Slack
In the dead of space, temperature has no meaning
On earth the measure of a pleasant feeling
With precision detail in the bible of ASHREA 55
the world burns hot and the men grow cold
On earth the measure of a pleasant feeling
With precision detail in the bible of ASHREA 55
the world burns hot and the men grow cold
227 : Bruce Meyer
Fossil Hill, Rte. 6, Manitoulin Island
The blanket of their coral bed
is grey as ash.
Tomorrow, when we wake,
will our hands, too, be cold?
226 : Susan Baller-Shepard
Here's what we left to you, grandkids...
You, my darling cherubic sweet suckled
from ever sickening teat, the world once
safe, a waif, half of what it was, 'twas air
and beauty we missed most
225 : Kate Foley
moss
prodigal old lady..slipper and bag colours
dessicated..bleached blown
before it's time
224 : Elisa McCool
The Climate
Today we make the weather.
There isn’t much in a storm after all,
ready-made place where the tree had stood.
..........Suddenly I had a yard.
222 : Stephen Chenette
Blow, says the conductor,
Sound your trumpet.
But my sound can't be pure
When the air isn't.
Sound your trumpet.
But my sound can't be pure
When the air isn't.
221 : Dan Gargiulo
Just a Kid Concerned for the Future of Heavy Metal
I love raging but when it’s hot
my dudes they sweat, I will get
new boring friends if they stink
and get more wet
I love raging but when it’s hot
my dudes they sweat, I will get
new boring friends if they stink
and get more wet
220 : Andrea L. Watson
Along the gorge, leaves, snow-spent.
Only autumn's third sigh and already
wonder of another season so swollen,
so wanton.
219 : Bernadette Wagner
Short memory
Each spring a green gift arrives, a promise planted
in winter's cold, always delivered with
leaves and sprouts. How is it we forget our role
in the whole?
Each spring a green gift arrives, a promise planted
in winter's cold, always delivered with
leaves and sprouts. How is it we forget our role
in the whole?
218 : Ally Harris
eschatology (redux)
.....not a human? Wagging
........round the brush. Water
...........is a chalice, rumor
..............with unusual emotion
216 : Stephen Rodefer
The gods and scientists heap their shit
on Buffalo and we're out there scavinging
plastic trees and other excuses for our footprints
.....preferring the freighter to the plane debris
on Buffalo and we're out there scavinging
plastic trees and other excuses for our footprints
.....preferring the freighter to the plane debris
215 : Sarah Fletcher
So baby, do you know what you want for Christmas this year?
Maybe a trip to Snowshoe? --- I don't know Dad, can't we
just buy a wii instead? Then we can ski ALL year. And it's not
like they have real snow anyway...
214 : Mary Fifield
Three hundred fifty Maldivians in formation.
Placards raised, an archipelago, a nation, reduced
to pleading: World, Stop the Seas, Drop the Carbon Parts Per Million.
Save Our Island.
Placards raised, an archipelago, a nation, reduced
to pleading: World, Stop the Seas, Drop the Carbon Parts Per Million.
Save Our Island.
213 : Hannah Weber
I was moving plates and coffee mugs from the rinse water to the
sterilizing water, pulling my hands out fast because they were both
painful hot, when I saw in the first suds-filled basin, a set of
bubbles there floating in the middle of the water, which were
uniformly shaped
and in a straight little grid, so unnaturally perfect, I thought
it must be a sign.
sterilizing water, pulling my hands out fast because they were both
painful hot, when I saw in the first suds-filled basin, a set of
bubbles there floating in the middle of the water, which were
uniformly shaped
and in a straight little grid, so unnaturally perfect, I thought
it must be a sign.
212 : Matt Miller
Look closely at the maiden’s conical hat,
you find it is a hive for numerous tiny men.
Though industrious, they make an ugly
case for themselves.
you find it is a hive for numerous tiny men.
Though industrious, they make an ugly
case for themselves.
211 : Livingston Miller
The past is future
And you who turn on the future
with a blank look, bend down and kiss
the earth, where we are is what we have
taken from it.
And you who turn on the future
with a blank look, bend down and kiss
the earth, where we are is what we have
taken from it.
210 : John Sevcik
Buying at Low Tide
When sister-in-law and her husband bought their shore house
two blocks from the bay, it rode proud and dry, except for storms
at high tide. An island within an island, how will they be able
to buy high, sell low?
When sister-in-law and her husband bought their shore house
two blocks from the bay, it rode proud and dry, except for storms
at high tide. An island within an island, how will they be able
to buy high, sell low?
209 : Cralan Kelder
when i was a kid we had real winters, canals frozen
ice skating cold snow in these parts now
we're lucky for an x-mas day
flurry
ice skating cold snow in these parts now
we're lucky for an x-mas day
flurry
208 : Noah Grossman
Jetties built into bodies of water can look like they’ve been there
forever. Installed to keep a beach from eroding or carve boat routes
in riverbeds. First developed in ancient India, sometimes jetties work.
Sometimes.
forever. Installed to keep a beach from eroding or carve boat routes
in riverbeds. First developed in ancient India, sometimes jetties work.
Sometimes.
207 : Penn Kemp
“Embrace the whole green planet.
It is possible to be that large. The time
is come. It is not just possible.
It is necessary.”
It is possible to be that large. The time
is come. It is not just possible.
It is necessary.”
206 : Wendy Morton
Here, the leaves clatter and fall.
Do they know the seas die? The icecaps melt?
They are indifferent,
beautiful in their death.
205 : Margo Berdeshevsky
DETAIL
Paris but not what trees were blooming then, when she hung under their fallen nail parings do
cherry trees bloom in April, yes, I’ll tell her, but these times do we know what is about to open,
the hand, the cannon, the heart, I send her mad Van Gogh’s marroniers instead, did he even
...then
mistake their fists for stars?
204 : Lisa Pasold
oh and the same curiously Italianate French sound of the bees, coming, again—stand still at the circle of their hives. spring, moving towards us all, a serif curling against the stern stripped font of winter. when they stop (how soon?)
we will have no place for language.
203 : Rosemary Clewes
Out of Sync
On moonless nights I fear
we are cratering this overheated world.
Like gods we stride the Earth, angling
for immortality before our prime.
On moonless nights I fear
we are cratering this overheated world.
Like gods we stride the Earth, angling
for immortality before our prime.
200 : Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle
On Evening’s Ocarina
Doves coo
Night birds mew
The owl of Thought
Fingers stops . . .
199 : Emily Liebowitz
Oh! The end of the world!
Edging crumble working over
End eating, growing margined
Blank slacking, dusting over
Mapped courtyards
Edging crumble working over
End eating, growing margined
Blank slacking, dusting over
Mapped courtyards
198 : Nkrumah Jones
Your Thirst
My hand's dirty from building you thirsty cars that suck the oil from distant sandy bars.
I wash with the ancient glacial font blessed from traveled and recessive atmospheres that now evaporate like insense.
I capture winds off Michigan; debride the rusty wounds and grow crops where angry metal plants once stood.
But now you want my water . . .
I wash with the ancient glacial font blessed from traveled and recessive atmospheres that now evaporate like insense.
I capture winds off Michigan; debride the rusty wounds and grow crops where angry metal plants once stood.
But now you want my water . . .
197 : Phil Boiarski
Patterns
The migratory patterns of the birds and herds
vary for the very first time. Polar bears drown.
Extremes are how the earth gets the world
to pay attention.
The migratory patterns of the birds and herds
vary for the very first time. Polar bears drown.
Extremes are how the earth gets the world
to pay attention.
196 : Pam Bernard
Too Little Too Late
I have lived through much in sleep, and all that was, still is:
guilt's cunning rhetoric, the inscrutable lure of regret.
If you asked which world is not there when I turn
to look, I'd tell you: this one.
195 : Nate Pritts
EMERGENCY POSTCARD TO THE TRANSCENDENT O!
Can I still wake up joyous in the tomorrow morning of tomorrow & write
an effusive blurting: “O good morning &, yes, what a big bright sun &, yes,
trees & leaves & O untroubled sky & O lovely day, lovely lovely day!”
Or do I write it not effusive, not joyous?
194 : Meghan Smith
Plotting Soil
White crumbs on black are familiar. Understood,
Earth is richer in salt and pepper, can nurture
November orchids. Next, mercury beads will birth
cacti with thermometer thorns.
White crumbs on black are familiar. Understood,
Earth is richer in salt and pepper, can nurture
November orchids. Next, mercury beads will birth
cacti with thermometer thorns.
193 : Rhiannon Dickerson
The Exact Dimensions
The coffin man had asked for directions
many times but found all the map keys broken,
all the waterways empty, the whales
at the zoo unfriendly.
192 : Demosthenes Agrafiotis
κομμένο κρεμμύδι,διαφορικό 'εντεχνου..αιτιατού το ένα παιδί το δαγκώνει,το άλλο το μασάει, το τρίτο το φτύνει φανταστό ή ονειρεμένο ,κούραση μέσα..και έξω τρεχαλητό. |
191 : Nick Urban
Boiling Makes Not Beauty
Thirsting in the badlands, we get sick
on ugly water.
Mud-choked and sun-spent, we cannot
find the spring.
Thirsting in the badlands, we get sick
on ugly water.
Mud-choked and sun-spent, we cannot
find the spring.
190 : Brenda Juarez
Celestial caustic soup envelops, chokes, and burns
Get the point, there's no return
Unless you mother the Mother
Earth
189 : Megan M. Garr
That we all stand alone at the top of the apparent world.
Try stem, try light, some if not all of the solemn expanse.
And exit the proper nouns of direction and importance,
inches by inches.
Try stem, try light, some if not all of the solemn expanse.
And exit the proper nouns of direction and importance,
inches by inches.
188 : Marilyn Kallet
My Southern mother was terrified of snow, she’d call me long-distance
...At college, in those days a hefty bill. I’ve lost her, but not the alarm
......In her voice—what would she think now, of Boston without heavy
.........coats, price of melting too high—
...At college, in those days a hefty bill. I’ve lost her, but not the alarm
......In her voice—what would she think now, of Boston without heavy
.........coats, price of melting too high—
187 : Taryn Schwilling
eustatic runoff....running
inward ....rise up
glacial .before the risen
tidemass
185 : Kathleen Kirk
Red Nasturtium
Why should suffering suffuse us with shame?
Ecstasy if seen as the red
nasturtium hidden deep under round leaves.
Blush turned outward, we could also unfold.
184 : Susan Gubernat
Polar bear dragged down by his wet coat,
the ice fisherman finds an abyss, too wide
for his deft instruments to pierce. Pond carp
flap along the shore.
the ice fisherman finds an abyss, too wide
for his deft instruments to pierce. Pond carp
flap along the shore.
183 : Margaret Ross
MANGAL
We manage tide. We thread the water through these sieves we sit upon to solve it. We unravel
what the sea thrusts knotted on us, combing current from the waves, distill the node
the spiders sift for, pluck the crystal to resolve and claim
our prize, our salt sparkling.
We manage tide. We thread the water through these sieves we sit upon to solve it. We unravel
what the sea thrusts knotted on us, combing current from the waves, distill the node
the spiders sift for, pluck the crystal to resolve and claim
our prize, our salt sparkling.
182 : Kit Kennedy
Turn down the thermostat, honey.
Sidetracked by the occasional kiss and tickle
cavalier and unaware, how do we survive
no bee, no ice.
Sidetracked by the occasional kiss and tickle
cavalier and unaware, how do we survive
no bee, no ice.
181 : Judith Terzi
what if?
mirror of pine in Sierra lake
traces of us linger in snow--
beside the creek, rust of aspen--
what if, what if?
180 : Kaethe Schwehn
when you say body of water you mean containment, here we mean the way the groaning
breaks. |
179 : Caitlin Harrison
when i go:
my soul a flash of starlings,
risen up, wind-battered,
into that far sky- grey, familiar.
178 : Jennifer K. Dick
a rage
for some defining order rusted
bodies adhere to stone, ........displacements
become fallen stars, crystalline spiked glass, windblown.
for some defining order rusted
bodies adhere to stone, ........displacements
become fallen stars, crystalline spiked glass, windblown.
177 : Amanda Nadelberg
Other Things, Trees for Example
At least in this bright lifetime
we'll get to know the forest and
the moon and what about the moon,
a window into
176 : Meghan Yates
Cricket Wings
Bend and chime in fields of tombstones.
Where I walk afraid,
they mate and sing.
174 : Joe Fassler
The oven! No, not left running, too late to turn back:
Forget the phantom, drive up the cold hill onward,
The engine drowns the mind's faint itch, it's fine;
The house won't bloom to flames.
Forget the phantom, drive up the cold hill onward,
The engine drowns the mind's faint itch, it's fine;
The house won't bloom to flames.
173 : Kathleen O'Toole
Act now or watch
these wetlands shrink as farm waste sieves
into the bay, and new droughts drive
spawning crabs farther and farther upstream.
172 : Agueybana Leon
Climate Action Boogie for the Struggle
Papi, your body is like an iceberg: white and large and cold.
And when you crash into me, I sink. Above me, you begin
to melt. Agueybana says: Papi, we have to stop this pesadilla.
We have to stop it now.
171 : Molly McDonald
A pale sky, pale water—how had I not noticed this before,
the relationship between lit screen and siren? (The clairvoyant here
who predicts the genders, dispositions of babies—the prediction of
turned into the predictability of.) Incoming.
170 : Gabriel Rocha
all the sudden a no-leaf tree
packed with birds, each bird
adjusting its body jitters
everybody's
169 : Deborah Lawson Scott
The Oaks
Too many leaners caught in neighbors' arms,
centuries of not touching undone in a decade,
downies and red bellies nest in the hollows
of their ghostly hosts.
165 : Abir Zaki
Change in nature,
be a song, be the cloud
and I will be the rain that was falling all through the long dark night
be the blowing wind...
be a song, be the cloud
and I will be the rain that was falling all through the long dark night
be the blowing wind...
164 : Claudia Kyalangalilwa
Mama, mama I don't want to go today
Just one more second, I promise!
Mama smiled and said
I'll die first
162 : Andrew Nance
Rootlet
Sequestered little joints broken from stemmata—shale,
stigmaria, liquid storax drunk on antipodal staves—
from your own left earlobe: smelted laver assembling
from your own bowl of shadow
161 : Ron Alexander
3.5
white like the floes she seeks in an empty
arctic sea--her world melted--no icy
refuges for hunting, whelping, sleeping,
she swims to nowhere
white like the floes she seeks in an empty
arctic sea--her world melted--no icy
refuges for hunting, whelping, sleeping,
she swims to nowhere
160 : Kaveh Bassiri
He says, when the good news breaks
who will bring back
the glaciers under the sun.
who will bring back
the glaciers under the sun.
And she says,
159 : Megaera Vittum Fitch
Let it come
Let there be again that taste
of bright wild air breathed of creatures
we walk in careful fear of, our power less,
our peace made
Let there be again that taste
of bright wild air breathed of creatures
we walk in careful fear of, our power less,
our peace made
158 : Christopher Patrick Miller
A fify-mile ice shelf breaks clean from a perfect time
for unknowing. Prattling swallows and impertinent, modern minds.
The figureless cold buoys and drifts
toward city light
157 : Anna Chinn
Make mine a long, cool drink
of saltwater. No, I am not kidding.
Please just fill the glass about 70%.
Yes, ice with that.
155 : Christian Hawkey
the yen tied to the dollar, the euro tied to the dollar,
the pound to the dollar, the dollar to gold, gold to oil,
oil to earth, earth to space, earth to space,
anyone, anyone
153 : Christine Lyons
Legacy, history, memory-- amnesia.
I think I'll miss the fall the most:
Scarves and mittens, your red nose.
The power of change.
152 : Kenyatta Rogers
Now the leaves hit the ground over the weekend.
All still green on Friday—still green on Saturday—
green on Sunday—blood fire on Monday morning.
More than the time of day.
151 : David Krieger
Change in Climate
The hawk circles, sounds a shrill cry.
Her cry pierces rock and moves tides.
Animals run, but we are still, frozen
Without tears….
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