Solutions for the End of the World 4

This time, section 4 of the seven-part poem, 
Solutions for the End of the World.

This section is a short interlude that seems to take us away from the rest of the narrative - an exchange between Goya and myself. Goya grew up and lived between the 18^th and 19^th Centuries and probably saw large flocks of birds in his day. I saw a few as a child, but none as an adult.

I tell Goya about seeing a lone feather fall from a clear sky (it happened while I was thinking about the feathered eel). Goya thinks I’m indulging in magical thinking while the world is burning…

Section 1 can be found here.

Section 2 can be found here.

Section 3 can be found here.

 

"This Way" from Goya's Caprichos

4.     In Which Goya Tells Me About Birds and I Tell Him About Seeing A Feather from The Eel Fall from The Sky

        

“I remember wings, so many wings,” Goya says.

Global heating to inflict more droughts on Africa as well as floods.

“When was the last time you saw and heard a massive flock?” He says.

 “A flock so vast

that when they turned in unison, the earth below responded?

So vast that branches rose to meet them.

So vast that grass spun up toward the sound, just to be close,

just to be loved by that sound…”

Ecosystems across Australia are collapsing under climate change.

I saw a black feather fall from the sky yesterday, I say.

“I was speaking about reality,” Goya says.

It was all black, with a touch of white at the stem, I say.

“Silence,” Goya says.

It spun, changed into a black tooth, a black knife, and landed

beyond the coyote fence.

“Silence, please,” he says.

I found it in chamisa branches…a feather fallen from the Eel,

passing overhead.

A new analysis warns that "global warming may have played a pivotal

role" in the recent rise of a multidrug-resistant fungal superbug.

Extreme Sea Level Events "will hit once a year by 2050"

And, in other news, from 350.org:

“It’s been over three weeks since Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas, and the situation on the ground remains dire for too many people.

 

Over 70,000 people are now homeless and living in shelters, tents, and even ships. Many of the areas hit hardest by the storm have lost vital infrastructure like power and sanitation systems.

 

Some Bahamians have been able to find temporary relief in the US. But for many people, the relative safety of the US remains out of reach because of the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies.”

It’s time for lawmakers to take action — sign here to tell Congress to pass legislation to grant Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians.