once upon a polar bear

Polar bears are facing a bleak future as Arctic icebergs continue to melt and ancient shelfs of ice collapse

once upon a time
i had a cheerful birsong
now a smoldering shadow

children vivaciously skated
up and down the city streets
parents: no worries

riding trains to work, daily
reading, meditating
taking naps

elevator loudspeaker
Spanish guitar melodies
tapped and rapped

poets heartily sang woes of
Elizabethan melancholy
not depression

plates of frozen landscape
dared not melt
into the dirty ocean

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Written for:

Poetics – once upon a time

Also written for:

I have a little shadow –  Prompt # 149

Photo credit: Life Preservers for Polar Bears On Sinking Arctic Ice | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World