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1/8 of an Inch
Two eyes sink into one shriveled skull
Saltless eyes piled high in a Dead Sea
No clear water runs with which to
Wet them, hope foolishly to soothe them
From ashes to ashes, dust and more dust
No ice lives in her heart, in spite of it all
Her philanthropic hands gave each shard away but
Her intentions weren’t enough to save the floes
That disappeared when the Northwest Passage
Exchanged its cloak of legend with a hush
She’ll stare at brown skies as
Argon clouds lie, she was there
When heaven fell, cradled the last bird as it died
She’ll have no last breath, no ending exhale
Dagger wind has depleted every earthly air
Now it’s waves without wind, doldrum domain
She’ll curse cloying tar
Coursing through craving veins
Each creosote beat marks a deathly refrain
She’ll sink soft in the sea, Mother Nature at peace
The last fading ghost in waters not free
She’s Gone -
Gone, and Gone.
So.
The metal claws that lift her, limp
For a fleeting second look like a different
Kind of claw, one that caws and claws and
Feasts on crab and krill and instinct
Not on mechanics, not diesel nor progress
And so her smile falls
Right off of what’s left of her face
And splats with the trash, in what’s left of
The sea that once was a living thing
Long before memory, before her mouth shriveled up
Like a goldfish that gasps on what’s left of the air
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1/8 of an inch is the average annual rise in global sea levels, although floods, droughts, and ice melts all present their own contrasting problems for a rapidly warming Earth. Poor communities, small islands, and nations close to the equator are disproportionately suffering from the effects of climate change; ironically, these are the areas least responsible for climate damage.