Exceptional A poem of climate change Totems Parts I and II by estory

I   Skulls and cross bones. Hazmat signs and suits.   Dead trees. Dead birds Scattered across the asphalt   Like broken bottles or empty cans Where the traffic circles   Under the vultures. Smoke. Soot. Incinerator ash   Settling on the landfills. Toxic waste sites. Red flags.   II   Each year, autumn seems to begin Later and later. Limp trees Shrivel and wither Before the cold air comes.   Lakes that once froze over Remain strangely unfrozen. Snow that I remember Melts before it settles down.   What has become of the magic Holding our world together, Conjuring the crystalline winter? Has it melted away too?   What if it melts away altogether? What if the North Pole And the glaciers on the Matterhorn Disappear for good?   What if the seasons spin out of orbit? What if the rains we pray for Pass over us and leave us To fend for ourselves in a desert? Recognized Author Notes I have complicated feelings about climate change and this poem articulates those feelings. I don't necessarily believe that climate change is a man made phenomenon; after all, the Earth's climate has been changing since it began. Sixty million years ago, the Earth was so warm that Antarctica was a tropical world full of reptiles the size of houses, and the middle of North America was covered by a huge inland sea. Sixty thousand years ago, if you drove north from Raleigh, you would come to a gigantic ice shelf blocking your way around where Richmond is today. These times were long before fossil fuels. But that doesn't change the fact that we have become bad stewards of this world. We litter the roads with cast off garbage, we waste energy, we pollute. The second part is more about the unsettling feeling of climate change, the uncertainty that undermines our sense of well being when we see the familiar fade away and the unexpected interrupt our enjoyment of the world and nature and the seasons. Parts 3 and 4 to follow. estory

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