Best Extinction Poems
He wakes as sun surrenders to nightfall;
emitting a haunting howl, he rises to prowl.
Bright amber eyes fixate on sources of nourishment.
Leaving his protected den in Yellowstone,
gray predator becomes the prey.
Just feet beyond the National Park
farmers shoot to protect livestock.
Defenders of Wildlife beg of Congress
“Stop the shooting!
Ensure the future of once-endangered wolves!”
Regal kings of the mountains and prairies,
nearly extinct in the ‘30s,
rebounded but are still vulnerable.
Their future rests in the hands of man,
a species that exterminates thoughtlessly,
posing threats to many of nature’s gifts.
Wild one, remain in protected areas.
Survive and thrive; extinction is forever.
Mankind’s death knell tolls for too many.
* Information on the gray wolf is provided by “Defenders of Wildlife,” a U.S. group that works to protect many endangered species. Each day we lose 25 to 150 animal species. Worldwide animal species extinction figures can be found at: http://www.columbiatribune.com/editorial_archive/q-how-many-animals-go-extinct-every-day/article_47bd1390-867e-11e2-8447-10604b9f6eda.html
*Written March 15, 2015
We were more popular
When you felt lazy,
More important when
We cooked you potatoes and gravy...
To please our boys and men
We would go to any length,
Even begged for mercy
Were pillars of strength...
We are the glue to glass houses
Being abused by the hour by the day,
Even ignored or unheard of by many
But we will continue to love come what may...
Negatively spoken of around the world
And frequently pacified by our nation,
But the torch GOD placed in our hearts
Is not a symbol of accusation more of edification...
Tear us down kick us to the ground
But we will always strive for equality,
We are free women accepting nothing less
Our guardian angels fill us with spirituality...
We are women born to cease dissention
We are women not women of extinction
Will the human race actually feel triumphant
with the extinction of our African elephant,
why don’t humans believe it’s preposterous
that Earth only homes two hundred Rhinoceros,
I being a human feel that I’m a total rotter
contributing to the demise of our giant otter,
do humans think land only belongs to man
creating inevitable extinction of Bornean orangutan,
shouldn’t wildlife be like sheep is to a shepherd
not to oversee the inevitable loss of Amur Leopard,
why do we rejoice, eager to explain our merits
hurrah saved from extinction the black footed ferrets,
we can always tell our children a fascinating tale
about the time we saw on Earth an amazing Whale,
explain what’s that human like creature when they see
a film or video of what was once a chimpanzee,
perhaps if we could stop killing ourselves and animals
then our planet will not seem such a desperate shambles.
I don’t wish to be doom and gloom
But I can’t help but think soon
This whole earth is about to erupt
In response to our destructive ways
And we can talk about heading off to space
But there is no planet B you see
There is no point in spreading like a disease
We need to learn to change our ways
Learn how to nurture and appreciate
Focus on how to navigate the natural disasters
Spend money on this instead of wars
Learn to unite to work to solve the problems as one race together
Combining minds and ideas
Never having to live in constant fear
We can evolve and take our place as a more peaceful race
That understands priorities and puts them in first place
Instead of letting government and corporate greed
Dominate humanities needs
And understand the balance needed for our ecology
Or we can all just sit back watching
Believing it’s inevitable that our earth is surely going to erupt
And simply explode and then implodes
And leaves us in a state of extinction.
A once vibrant Cosmic marvel turned to dust,
the result of hate, and of ignorance and of lust!
An illusion we have of being the crown of creation,
an illusion that has caused none but devastation!
As our giver of life stands right before our eyes,
we choose to bicker, argue, and fight over gods and over lies!
There are powers far greater than our understanding of gods,
when in truth we may all be wrong, what are the odds?
We are from the Earth and that should be our church,
we are the protectors of life and as such must emerge.
Is nature then, not the apex of amazement and burst of life,
when we so comfortably trade that for money, possessions, and strife.
Creating a twisted mental persistence to compete,
when in the end it will all be imminently absolute.
Nature is my church and my actions my proud religion,
while the opinions others have of that is a mere smidgen.
I am the forest dweller and ambassador for truth,
adding to the spice of life just a tiny dash of vermouth.
A protector, a sailor, a thinker and perhaps even a saint,
be it as it may, my decisions and path are always quaint.
Koala bear tears
Eucalyptus tree downfall
A Greenhouse effect
THE SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION (Manmade this time)
The sixth extinction is at hand
It's grasp extends to sea and land
Earth shone blue in darkness of space
Extending its welcome to a human race
Earth long was seen as a life giving planet
Many animals too made their homes on it
Humans judged they were subjacent to none
Dominated all creatures under the sun
Animals are not lesser because they aren't human
Humans are lesser for what they did to them
The natural order mandated life's forces
But Man's greed drained earths' resources
Earth was the planet once singular in space
Now has the color been drained from its face
Earth was a planet of great singularity
Nothing can now return earth's parity
Earth once a planet of green and blue
Faces a change in the shade of its hue
Life was the reason for earth's special place
It's now gone and earth is a cold rock in space
A creature called Man caused this cosmic disaster
The Cosmos declared Man not allowed hereafter
ELIZABETH SMITH
Poachers shrug off
their critics,
who say that they are aiding
elephants' extinction - the
people who are thirsty
for money from tusks claim
that poaching
doesn't destroy the world,
it only destroys poverty
and feeds their hungry families.
They press the triggers,
without foreseeing a wild with no elephants;
a nation with no tourism;
an orphaned elephant calf;
a beauty scrapped off from Mother Nature's creation....
Photo #2
Date: 09/04/2016
The Extinction of the Sea Turtles
By Elton Camp
Human villainy is a cause for alarm
It causes much environmental harm
If the sea turtle should become extinct
To deliberate human acts it is linked
Sea turtles take decades to sexually mature
Then their offspring are far from secure
Males and females mate out in the sea
But on the sandy beach its nests must be
To the beach where hatched many return
Only to be met by the selfish and stern
She hauls herself up onto the home beach
Digs a hole to put her eggs out of reach
Then she covers and hides them well
Just where they are it’s hard to tell
But people have been there on alert
And immediately dig into the dirt
Huge sacks of eggs they carry away
So there will be no babies another day
It is largely because of this disgrace
That extinction the sea turtle does face
stagnation a trait
which many soon come to hate
for what it negates
refusing to look, see, hear
beyond beliefs most hold dear
hardening one's mind
to those seeming unrefined
yields socially blind
unaware people are blend
of diverse thoughts, forms and trends
becoming like rock
which requires an extreme shock
to look past own flock
know evolution's in play
existence makes new each day
stagnation a curse
making humanity worse
stuck on self-same verse
closed minds have great distinction
which leads straight to extinction
Blasting cities with
Innocent crowds...
"I can't breathe.."
Screamed, the humanity..
Shattered shrine on
a day, so divine...
"I can't breathe.."
Yelled, the humanity..
Tearful lass before the
drooling hounds..
"I can't breathe.."
Cried, the humanity..
Silenced giant under
racist beasts...
"I can't breathe.."
Murmured, the humanity..
On the verge of extinction
yearning for life...
"I can't breathe.."
Gasped, the humanity..
WE ARE POLLUTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the beginning, its said we were just dust,
Conjecture or, simply words I don't trust.
Even the big bang theory is not a positive must.
For the truth in all manner of things, I do lust.
I know it's out there, we've just scratched the crust.
I would bet a fortune but, unfortunately, I'm bust!
Gasses condensing along with dust compaction,
Probably planet earth's initial nuclear reaction.
Nuclear fusion in the raw, a non-fatal attraction.
Initially molten, cooling, a hardening contraction.
Still many millennia before life saw any action.
Abiogenesis some 4.2 billion years ago, first life!
Understanding self-replicating, still causing strife
Once instigated molecular life became common, rife.
Evolution in reality, fast, look, now man and wife.
Are we happy, we are the pollution, have we gone too far?
the door to self-destruction now open, well slightly ajar,
The not too distant future will climate warming will mar?
Most scientists researching nature, all life's chances,
suggest stop pollution, change ourselves, adopt new stances.
The end of life as we know it, total mass extinction,
I, and I wish all of humanity will find the lust.
To help nature right our wrongs, she needs our interaction,
stopping pollution now right now might just suffice,
else planet earth might end up looking like a star.
Let's all help save planet earth with great distinction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
01/26/18: Amended punctuation and the date composed, 0900hrs 01/26/18
Entered in the MINUANETTA - Poetry Contest sponsored Gregory R Barden.
By Mark D. Stucky
Computer AI,
what once was only sci-fi,
is now arising.
You might kill us all,
AI, but write good essays
for my college class?
Wish intelligence
was less artificial and
more real in our world.
No machine needed
for creating recklessness.
Already have lots.
Not nearly enough
authentic intelligence
is found within us.
Let’s search for wisdom
for our souls that’s actual,
not unnatural!
(See also my AI poems "AI Awakening" and “Algorithm Almighty?”)
(Image from anonymous artist on pixabay.com/illustrations/man-face-surreal-imagination-845847/.)
All things have a beginning and an end
with birth and death. The fate of tiny fleas,
to vast, unfathomed galaxies- portend
there are no steady-state eternities.
But for the realm of God, the prime mover-
extinction comes to all, a fact of life.
Survival of the species maneuvers
all life and death; what goes and what is rife.
But massive earthquakes and large asteroids
caused huge extinction holes in history.
Our world was redefined to fill the voids,
and live to comprehend each mystery.
Our planet earth has gone extinct five times.
Yet, always has returned, not quite the same.
Evolved again from ash and mud; what crimes-
past cultures disappeared to flood or flame.
We know extinction on a greater scale
will someday come through catastrophic ends,
as energy from fueling stars will fail;
this force on which our Universe depends.
With the 'big bang', our Universe was spun,
exploding with a force that quickly spread.
Now, science does predict oblivion
when all the energy of stars is dead.
Just half of all these energies remain
of what there was two billion years ago.
Two-hundred thousand galaxies now wane
with weakness of that surge that feeds their flow.
Survival of all living forms is moot-
these evolved from the 'big bang' cosmic brew.
And in the end, the only absolute-
oblivion, the final stage- adieu.
Where stars and planets whirled in endless space
the darkest, black of emptiness will be.
Death leads to life; perhaps rebirth will grace
in light years' time more, 'big bang' energy.
All things have a beginning and an end
with birth and death. The fate of tiny fleas,
to vast, unfathomed galaxies- portend
there are no steady-state eternities.
January 2, 2016
~3rd Place~
Contest: Extinction
Sponsor: Anthony Slausen
Judged: 01/07/2016
I saw several plastic bags caught
upon driftwood, swaying atop the ocean.
A beer can or five lay scattered nearby
soon to be taken and kept by the tide.
I placed all trash in the bag I gripped,
holding other cans, plastics, bags for chips.
I could not fathom who would do this
and stilled my sad-mad trembling lips.
We cannot seem to fight corporate greed,
but must people also cause land to bleed?
Littering breaks my entire heart
within the spiritual eternal part.
There resides my unique “I am”;
a force that radiates a breaking spark,
that hurts and longs to understand.
What lays the ways of any living man
who nonchalantly murders earth-land?
All tangibles the careless now own
came from something nature grown.
I know this is a truth widely known.
The earth has a true heartbeat –
a pulse littering may yet defeat.
The oceans, forests and even the streets,
see me picking up trash in a sad repeat.
Despite my raw anger, I often weep.
I know God lovingly created planet art
because when I move the ‘h’ in earth
it conveys we reside in His very heart.
Do not, I pray and besiege this day,
kill His artistry with garbage this way.