You were born in a pandemic
wildfires raging
hurricanes through the gulf
the hottest summer
the ice sheets melting
You will tell your grandchildren
that once there were white bears
that lived in the north
when there were icebergs
before the big melt
and there were major coastal cities
now underwater
once we had great reefs
but they were bleached
once we drank water
without microplastics
and we ate fish from the ocean
once there were rain forests
but we cut down the trees
for cattle so we could eat beef
and methane gas was produced
You can say you didn’t start the fire
unless your parents launched pytrotechics
to announce your gender
which started the wildfires in the U.S.
which destroyed 7000 acres
Drought then fire in Aus
left Koala’s helpless
we said we didn’t start the fire
as we anticipated nuclear disaster
and then faced terrorism
as we learned about global warming
which we blamed on plastic water bottles
and this pandemic where people protested
wearing a mask to protect others
still racial dissension, inequality and suppression
we’ll leave you to solve the problems
with a few go fund me pages
and a social media campaign or two
maybe you can plant a tree
if you can find some land
that hasn’t been stripped mined
oil sands
maybe you’ll adopt diversity
so its a reality
not a catch phrase
corporate program to collaborate
maybe you’ll be international
without travelling the world
leaving dirty carbon footprints
and you can clean up the mess
that we didn’t create but added to
or not
maybe by your children’s children’s time
they will take a space ship
and leave this garbage planet
that we killed
(c)2021 by Catherine Elder
