Culture & Media
The Animals Are Leaving
One by one, like guests at a late party
They shake our hands and step into the dark:
Arabian ostrich; Long-eared kit fox; Mysterious starling.
One by one, like sheep counted to close our eyes,
They leap the fence and disappear into the woods:
Atlas bear; Passenger pigeon; North Island laughing owl;
Great auk; Dodo; Eastern wapiti; Badlands bighorn sheep.
One by one, like grade school friends,
They move away and fade out of memory:
Portuguese ibex; Blue buck; Auroch; Oregon bison;
Spanish imperial eagle; Japanese wolf; Hawksbill
Sea turtle; Cape lion; Heath hen; Raiatea thrush.
One by one, like children at a fire drill, they march outside,
And keep marching, though teachers cry, “Come back!”
Waved albatross; White-bearded spider monkey;
Pygmy chimpanzee; Australian night parrot;
Turquoise parakeet; Indian cheetah; Korean tiger;
Eastern harbor seal; Ceylon elephant; Great Indian rhinoceros.
One by one, like actors in a play that ran for years
And wowed the world, they link their hands and bow
Before the curtain falls.
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Source: The poem first appeared in Kansas Quarterly was reprinted in Amplified Dog, published by Red Hen Press, 2006.
Charles Harper Webb is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Reading the Water, Liver, Tulip Farms and Leper Colonies, Hot Popsicles and Amplified Dog. He is professor of English at California State University, Long Beach and directs the school’s MFA in creative writing program.
-
Latest NewsApril 10, 2024
The Transatlantic Battle to Stop Methane Gas Exports From South Texas
-
Latest NewsApril 23, 2024
A Whole-Person Approach to Combating Homelessness
-
Latest NewsMarch 27, 2024
Street Artists Say Graffiti on Abandoned L.A. High-Rises Is Disruptive, Divisive Art
-
State of InequalityApril 11, 2024
Dispelling the Stereotypes About California’s Low-Wage Workers
-
Latest NewsApril 24, 2024
An Author Reflects on the Effort to Rebuild L.A. After the ‘Violent Spring’ of 1992
-
State of InequalityMarch 28, 2024
Los Angeles Hotel Workers Could Use the 2028 Olympics to Their Advantage
-
Striking BackApril 12, 2024
Organizing the Slopes
-
State of InequalityApril 25, 2024
California Often Leads Change, but Not for Single-Payer Health Care