Back in Michigan, the lake effect
snow climbs to the top of the
trees
like a mountain goat
climbs higher and higher
with every seismic jolt
to avoid calamities.
Here in Arizona, the dammed
up creeks, now dry river beds,
form half full/half empty lakes
with water receding like soapy
water sliding down with
the gurgle it always makes.
The desert plants die
and great lakes freeze,
so why, oh, why
can’t I
revel in the glories
of nature, like Words-
worth, Mary Oliver and
the Shelleys?
But wasn’t it that other
Mary, the prophetic Shelley,
who warned us of
technologiceze,
the worship of that we
can do without thought
of what it might do
causing great unease
and then disease
and ultimately death, oh
no, no, please?