On seeing four photographs

By Catherine Woods

I tumble quickly as my despair gathers momentum.
The dinosaur’s skeletal remains on the floor,
near the forgotten and forlorn chair,
add to this despair.
Without pause, I conjure that photo of the polar bear
who died of starvation,
unable to reach his venerable kitchen.
I feel the ice cap melt and retreat,
bringing certain death to all that thrive on icy cold,
the penguins, the bears, the others.

Indifference.
And still our indifference.
How can we?  What must we?
Where is a sense of shared identity,
shared potency,
shared space,
shared planet?

Have we become sterile eunuchs?
What happened to being ambassadors of life’s dance?

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Catherine Woods is an astrologer and gardener who cares deeply about the world.

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Catherine drafted this poem in my Juxtaposition Writing Workshop at the Waking the Dreamer Within Festival on August 9, 2013. I’m honored to share it here.

~Laura K. Deal