The World Around Us: A Poem

(I don’t write poetry nearly as much as I once did, but as I was mulling the dire situation the world is in because of global warming, I felt inspired to express myself in verse. The poem is free verse, a bit formless, and probably lacking in quality, but it was an honest expression if nothing else.)

The world around us

Is burning up

Its surface blisters

Under an unforgiving sun

Once verdant foliage

Is drying up

And turning to dust

Deserts grow bigger

As life flees

To shrinking habitats

The bugs that once covered

The grill of the family car

As we drove through the

Southern San Joaquin Valley

Are no longer there

The life I once saw

In coastal tide pools

Is dwindling away

——————————————

Will we get off the

Carbon addiction in time?

Will we have the strength

To take on the

Centuries old

Profit making machine

As its adherents

Fight to the last man

To save it?

—————————————–

As the mercury rises today

I will go outside

Either on foot or bicycle

Enjoy what we still have

And remind myself

That there’s still plenty

To fight for.

©2021 Robert Kirkendall