Climate Change Poem 2

Sunrise, Daytona Beach, October 2005

Two global events are occurring on September 24, 2011:

1. Moving Planet, a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis.


2. 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a demonstration/celebration of poetry to promote serious social, environmental, and political change.


I thought: Why not do both?

Barring an emergency, I am posting from midnight to midnight, one poem per hour (at any time during that hour). That's starting from 00:00-01:00 and ending at 23:00-24:00 Eastern Time today.

All the poems are sonnets. Each takes its cue from an article dealing with climate change. The articles had been posted beginning on September 15 -- the date of the 24-hour Climate Reality Project that inspired me to do this -- to September 19, the day I drafted the twenty-fourth poem.


The poem for Hour 2 takes its cue from "Observations of Climate Change from Indigenous Alaskans" (Staff writers, Terra Daily, Sept. 15, 2011).

Indigenous Knowledge

The Andreafsky River ice is thin.
In winter it is hard to get around
And travelers take longer to begin.
They speak of their companions who have drowned

When snow machines or sled dogs tumbled through
What used to be a solid, frozen road.
What once had linked communities like glue
Has melted, powerless to carry load.

The Yup'ik tell of fewer ptarmigan
Whose flights led to subsistence hunt success.
They say more moose and beaver here once ran,
And salmonberries grew without distress.

Their world dissolves, their voices breaking through,
A cry for help within each interview.

Audio (1:15):

Part of the Solution website (chosen at random)
Inhabitat -- website for green design.
Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other JourneysPromote Your Page Too Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.), Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite, Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny, Vol. 4, Deviations: Bloodlines, Vol. 5, Deviations: TelZodo, Vol. 6 and conclusion: Deviations: Second Covenant.Free downloads at the Deviations website (click here for alternate link), Smashwords, and Manybooks.

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