DEAR EDITOR BY MARY MAKOFSKE

Dear Editor
The light tracks me all day, sitting at my desk,
late afternoon now. Air holds its breath,
barely a tremble in the fountain grass,
the box elder leaning against the glass,
a small plane droning low over the hills.
Does it seem leisurely? Does all seem well?
Today I composed more and more
fervent letters to the editors
of every local paper, why it must change,
why we must think who we are, as the same
that is never the same turned over leaves
that flamed or quietly browned. What dies,
what thrives in the garden every year
is different, unpredictable. Our share’s
enough, we can’t change the weather,
we used to say, though now we know better.
Too late moves us faster
than the fast-retreating glaciers.
We keeping thinking we’ll advance forever.

From Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry for California

This Earth Day, write a letter to your local paper on what you perceive as changes in your neighborhood’s flora and fauna due to climate change

• How is the weather changing? Write a poem about the weather beginning with the words, “We used to say…”

• What bothers you most about the way we are treating the Earth? Let rip on the page. After you have written down your feelings, allow yourself to reflect on what you notice or are moved to do or change.