The Amazon

The Amazon is burning—it’s not in our news
though ten million species call it home.
How about the Howler monkeys’ views?

This canopied lung our planet will lose,
clearing’s cost 20% of Amazon’s biome.
The Amazon is burning—it’s not in our news.

Perpetrators’ impunity sparks land grabber abuse,
who deforest, then burn trees for ashen loam.
How about jaguars’ and pumas’ views?

Jungles are converted into grassland hues,
logging and mining tear plant rhizomes.
The Amazon is burning—it’s not in our news.

World plea for beef and leather lit this fuse
as farmers profit more where cattle roam.
How about sloths’ and Macaws’ views?

Loss of carbon-absorbing plants incurs dues
that balloons warming gas under earth’s dome.
The Amazon is burning—it’s not in our news.
How about the next generation’s views?

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Nancy Taylor discovered a love for poetry after a thirty-year career in nursing.  Her poems are published in anthologies: Women Writing; on the Edge of Dark and Light, Planet in Crisis and in the journals the Salish Magazine, and The Literary Nest.  Her book, Can We Keep Him, lends a playful perspective between dogs and their humans while benefiting a local animal rescue organization.  Wandering through forests, with husband and 2 dogs, in the Pacific Northwest where she lives on an island, keeps her relatively sane in this season of the Coronavirus.