A polar bear unexpectedly washed up
on a beach of sun-soaked sand, blinking at palm trees
like they were part of some cosmic prank.
He tried to build a snow fort out of coconuts and optimism,
but everything kept melting~
except his dignity.
Soon he learned to waddle in flip-flops,
sip pineapple juice through a straw, and fan himself with a leaf
the size of his entire head.
He decided, with a shrug, that life is mostly about adapting~
even if you’re a creature of snow
learning to love the warm, ridiculous world.
the smile on that bear’s face picked up the Christmas pace
A card from the fifties, yet it still holds love and grace
Who mailed this card? From whom could this treasure be?
I never found out, though I tried to through 1993
Finally deciding it did not matter whatsoever
This Christmas card lightens the worst weather
The smile on this whimsical polar bear
Tells me that someone does love me and care
polar pals parading around, perky in pink
Pretty Patty Pureblood and her bear Ink
They were proved friends, who loved each other
Closer than a sister, mother or brother
They were the talk of the town at first said Mrs. Yerk
But now we are used to them, and it seems to work
They bring cookies to the shut ins and read scripture too
They would look odd now if they wore yellow or blue
I thought a polar bear was the size of a grizzly or brown bear
Yesterday at a museum I was surprised to see a stuffed one there
He was enormous, his teeth had me quaking at my knees
Mouth opened wide, I was intimidated, glad he could not be freed
He is a Goliath, bigger than any colossus t-rex I could imagine I am sure
His fur was not amazingly white, more yellowish, kind of unpure
I was sorry he was a statue now, for I bet he was something in his day.
This does not mean I would stay to play if I saw him coming my way.
It's gonna be cold tonight
They predict one degree
The polar vortex has a bite
Unheard of here in NYC.
Global warming is the crime
It allows the cold to break thru here
So we must push for offshore turbines
While we sip on frozen beer.
Its gonna be cold out there
They say polar bear numbers will wane
But those bears are unaware
They're making cubs like clouds make rain.
In Antarctica it's negative sixty one
Coldest its been for 44 years
But ice shelves are melting in the sun
and nothing is as it appears.
Florida's freeze made dead bananas
Carolina towns can't cope
The reasons we must hammer
Renewables are our only hope.
The arctic
a wet dog
shaking off the cold
Winter
a feral dog
won’t do what it’s told
The b*tch is
it’s happening
exactly as foretold
***
polar bear up north
posing for the camera
dressed for warmth in fur
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Polar bear at the north pole, floating on a lone ice floe,
thinks to himself, 'What happened to my world, where did all the ice go?'
If to the south pole he did depart, penguins to compare,
would he then be, a well-traveled bipolar bear?
Perception
is the potion
where pudding
holds the proof
The details
get bedeviled
Martini’s
all Vermouth
A good girl
or a bad girl
the wind
can blow both ways
Looking right
or looking left
the truth
— not on display
(The New Room: May, 2025)
Yesterday it was nearly eighty in Kansas City
Today our high will be possible snow flurries
Up down, up down, the weather is bi-polar
She cannot be outguessed
Get on board
Or get out of her way
She always wins
polar bears hunt
too much swimming
not enough ice
Blubber Treats
Polar
Bears
Break
Holes
Fur
Seals
Are
Meals
The sky is a cloudless crystal blue
with a breeze to chap your lips
I’m grateful for it, it’s heaven-sent
the dawn was a celestially stamped, angry red
sailors take warning
It’s going to get feisty cold,
I’m told
about the time we go back to school.
A polar-bear vortex with all its features
will spread its icy paws
What jumps out at me first
is how it could be worse.
if unapologetic nature
pounced sans disclaimers
with a cold worth semi-Shakespearean verse
What follows, star-crossed
is a week storm-tossed
a winter holocaust
with heaven-kissed frost
that only madness would call a judgement
We’re steered from harm
by precision alarms
stay warm
sweet friends
wrap up, stay in
.
.
Songs for this:
Come In from the Cold by Marc Broussard
World's A Changing by The Bingtones
Polar bear chased Joe into a cave
Already there was a princess and knave
They waited until the big gal went to sleep
Then stealthily stole away with nary a peep
polar bear here
polar bear there
she gave us a scare,
she gave us a scare
Polar bear slumbered cozily away
As they climbed out of her cave that day
Hibernating now, the three told all who would listen
Staying away from that frozen cave that gave a glisten
polar bear here
polar bear there
she gave us a scare,
she gave us a scare
Feeling lucky they had survived the bear’s hungry ways
They all told the story from then until the end of their days
A princess, knave, and a regular guy named Joe.
Who still tell the tale down in Kokomo.
polar bear here
polar bear there
she gave us a scare,
she gave us a scare
Pushing hard
against the words
the order
disarrayed
The ultimate guest
the consummate stranger
so close
— so far away
(The New Room: December, 2024)
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