When the machine
finally left
the ravaged edges
of the lagoon
littered
with heaps of once tall reed
choking the waters,
and silence
– this loud desolation –
returned,
the exiled red-winged
black birds began
– at first hesitant
but soon, it seemed,
outraged –
protesting the theft
of their footholds
in the tall grasses,
their nests
obliterated
at the wet feet
of the willows,
their homes
taken
without consent.
All day long
they’ve been shouting
their agitated confusion
over the clear-cut shores,
sharing the facts of destruction
with their displaced neighbors,
debating amongst themselves
with the urgency
of no cover
whether to go
or whether to start
– exposed
and terribly late
in the year –
here
in this place
a new nest.
—
Susi Moser is an Earth scientist and human geographer by training. She works as an independent scholar, consultant, trainer, and coach on adaptation to climate change, climate change communication, science-policy interactions, and psycho-social resilience in the face of the traumatic and transformative challenges associated with climate change. A few pieces of her poetry, while still largely a private pastime, have been published in the anthology, Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (2023), as well as in several newsletters.
