The Next Extinction

Jefferson Carter

 

 

My friend mocks tree huggers

like me. The long view,

he insists, almost gleeful

about the coming extinction.

 

I imagine him at his computer,

no electricity, raindrops

greasing the window.

 

I imagine hundreds

of volunteers by a creek,

pulling buffelgrass, stem

by invasive stem, all of us

sweating, joking, giddy with hope.

 

 

~~~~~

Jefferson Carter has lived in Tucson since 1953. He volunteers with Sky Island Alliance, a regionally-based environmental organization. He is also poetry editor for Zócalo, a local arts magazine.