23 species from 19 States lost to extinction

the September 2021 headlines read.

Humanity has nothing much

to say about 22 animals and a plant

lost forever, I continue.

Could we hope for

anything better

than an alien invasion?

Don’t go all Area 51

on me, not on the first date,

he said and laughed awkwardly.

The Ivory-billed woodpecker

was lost to logging and collection,

and nobody cared, I continue.

Crucial conservation work goes undone,

—11 birds, 8 freshwater mussels, 2 fish, 1 bat, and 1 plant—

all gone forever. He sighs heavily. I blush.

I hope the human habitat destruction

is equally severe when humanity is lost to extinction, I add.

My date’s silence is deafening.

“23 Species from 19 States lost to extinction,” In Parentheses, poem (Winter 2022)