POEM - Extinction (Lord God Bird)

Where does the path of extinction take us,
Lord God Bird?
You are no Elvis species,
Slender, cormorant-like,
Crowned with morning red,
As if colored by Van Dyke himself!

Then somewhere between Little Rock and Memphis
We witnessed a miracle;
We wept like Jesus begging for Lazarus;
You were held colloidal like fog
By tender dewy air of old growth forest,
While we hunted resurrection.

Even the loggers cried aloud –
“Log God! Log God!” -
Serious and pragmatic hymns
From serious and pragmatic men.

Where has extinction held you,
Lord God Bird?

Ka-dunk

In the hopes of hunters –

Ka-Dunk

In what is most wild about yourself –

Ka-Dunk

Where do we search for extinction,
Lord God Bird?

On the Cache River?
On the Singer Tract?
In the dream we have
to swim the waters of paradise again?
In dark brooding shadows of Industrialization?

Extinction begins in what we believe.