Pigeon (Anthropocene Poem)

sunrise-4

Pigeon

Early December,
downtown Vancouver
and it’s raining
more than the usual
cats and dogs,
it feels like the city
is trapped
in a giant car wash.

All year long the weather
has been acting like a child
that hasn’t been taught limits.

Three months of summer drought.

We woke up one morning
and white ash from forest fires
covered the deck,
and that evening down on the beach
we were treated to
a red ball sunset
worthy of Beijing or Mumbai.
The Indian guy in the coffee shop
told me it made him feel homesick.

Something’s happening to the frogs.

The Oregon spotted frog is Canada’s most threatened amphibian,
I saw that on TV program called
“Canada’s Most Threatened Amphibians”.
Also threatened is the northern leopard frog.

Sea stars have sea star wasting syndrome

We’re losing song birds, bats and bees

The world is an orchestra
and the string section is leaving
one by one.

Anthropocene
Anthropocene
Sixth Extinction,
soon there will only be us.

******
At the corner of Georgia and Granville
a pigeon waddles through a puddle
created by a blocked storm drain

and I’m thinking:
Who’d be a pigeon on a day like this?
Who’d be a pigeon at a time like this?

This poem originally appeared at dVerse and earthweal

38 thoughts on “Pigeon (Anthropocene Poem)”

revivedwriter January 18, 2020 at 9:28 am

Thanks for this bit of humor inside of a rather dark poem:
“The Oregon spotted frog is Canada’s most threatened amphibian,
I saw that on TV program called
“Canada’s Most Threatened Amphibians””

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 2:43 pm
  
  Thank you for picking that out!
  
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Margaret Elizabeth Bednar January 18, 2020 at 9:55 am

Powerful!

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 5:50 pm
  
  Thank you!
  
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earthweal January 18, 2020 at 11:46 am

This is so much what I hope to see at earthweal — its local and so focused on what it means to live on a fast-changing Earth. One thing about local witness is that we can calibrate the change against what we are used to seeing. “All year long the weather / has been acting like a child / that hasn’t been taught limits.” I also love how the local is global — the murky Mumbai sunset — and the account of fellow residents who have vanished — frogs, birds, bats, bees, and starfish losing their beams. Hope to see you again at earthweal. — Brendan

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 2:43 pm
  
  Thanks Brendan, glad you liked the poem. I was looking for a home for it and I came across your excellent blog. Keep up the good work, JIM
  
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hypercryptical January 18, 2020 at 12:58 pm

A clever write Jim, so much said and its power shining through its gentle humour.
Quite brilliant!
Anna :o]

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 5:50 pm
  
  Thank you, Anna!
  
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Beverly Crawford January 18, 2020 at 1:07 pm

Painful truth couched in a bit of humor. Evocative.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 5:51 pm
  
  Thank you, Beverly!
  
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Yvonne Osborne January 18, 2020 at 1:37 pm

Weather extremes are our new norm. There used to be a thing here in Michigan called a January Thaw. I wonder how many can even remember what that was. “It’s no time to be a pigeon.” No time at all.

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msjadeli January 18, 2020 at 2:03 pm

Like canaries in coal mines, frogs are our canaries of environmental viability. I don’t hold out much hope for the strings or the rest of the orchestra.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 5:52 pm
  
  There’s always hope Jade!
  
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Truedessa January 18, 2020 at 3:14 pm

My heart sighed at the lost of the string section. I hope the rest of the orchestra will remain. The image of that red ball sunset is amazing as well as the connection with the local resident who is reminded of home. Wonderful capture of your part of the world.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 5:52 pm
  
  Thank you Truedessa!
  
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Mary January 18, 2020 at 4:39 pm

I really enjoyed your observations of nature! And alas, it is sad that section by section of the orchestra is being lost. Soon perhaps there will be no music at all.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 5:57 pm
  
  Thank you, Mary!
  
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Eilene Lyon January 18, 2020 at 5:17 pm

I wonder if we really will be the last to go? I suspect not. Absent the ever greedy human scourge, the rest of life on earth should rebound quite quickly.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 6:00 pm
  
  You could be right, Eilene!
  
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Frank Hubeny January 18, 2020 at 5:56 pm

I like your description of the rain being like a giant car wash or a child who hasn’t been taught limits.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 6:00 pm
  
  Thanks Frank!
  
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purplepeninportland January 18, 2020 at 6:09 pm

Your descriptions are right on target. Excellent poem, Jim.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 6:00 pm
  
  Thank you!
  
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Rosemary Nissen-Wade January 19, 2020 at 12:17 am

I like the conversational tone, as the terrible truth slowly sneaks up on us.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 6:01 pm
  
  Thank you, Rosemary!
  
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Sumana Roy January 19, 2020 at 1:42 am

I could see your world so vividly and with a sad sigh. Everywhere is the same story, though.

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Sherry Marr January 19, 2020 at 10:27 am

Oh I LOVE reading a poem from Vancouver, knowing exactly the corner you mention. I might rather be a pigeon in these times, than to know all I know. Smiles. I, too, love the conversational voice in this poem. Well penned!

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 6:01 pm
  
  Thanks Sherry!
  
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Björn Rudberg (brudberg) January 19, 2020 at 12:11 pm

This is such a painful read, but the one thing I know is that humans are going to be extinct as well when doing this…

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1. sdtp33 Post authorJanuary 20, 2020 at 6:02 pm
  
  There’s always hope, Bjorn…..your fellow citizen, Greta, is doing a lot to get the message out!
  
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Steve Simpson January 28, 2020 at 9:57 pm

So true and beautifully expressed, love the string section, Jim. Here in Aus, the marsupials have been burning. Pity we don’t have a spare planet in the boot.

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1. sdtp33 Post authorFebruary 2, 2020 at 9:28 am
  
  Thank you, Steve, terrible what’s happening over in Australia…hope you are out of harm’s way…JIM
  
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  1. Steve Simpson February 9, 2020 at 10:11 pm
    
    A lot better now, a massive downpour has put the largest fires out.
    
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johnlmalone August 12, 2022 at 5:26 pm

this is one helluva poem; well done —

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1. sdtp33 Post authorAugust 20, 2022 at 4:19 pm
  
  Thank you John!
  
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Rajani Radhakrishnan August 12, 2022 at 9:38 pm

Love this one… so nicely done!

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1. sdtp33 Post authorAugust 20, 2022 at 4:19 pm
  
  Thank you Rajani.
  
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memadtwo August 13, 2022 at 8:43 am

I agree, much will survive us. Singing good riddance. I suspect pigeons will be among them. (K)

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