Greed

By Emily Kaplan

This poem exemplifies how human greed destroys the planet, and the beings that have nothing to do with humans’ actions are the ones who suffer.

Over 900 species have gone extinct in the last five centuries
Over a fifth of wildlife habitats have been destroyed in the last 300 years
They’re lost in people’s fractured memories 
As more and more animals disappear 

They are innocent in their demise 
Yet they experience our ignorance like an unwanted souvenir 
Their histories revised and their lives compromised
Due to humans’ oblivious slumbering 

Human greed leaves the planet in shambles 
Resigning billions of animals to a life of suffering
We cause forest fires like candles 
It leaves me wondering 

Is it too late to fix it?
Will the defenseless receive their reparations? 

Process

I went to the Earth Day Poetry session and got inspiration from this session to write this poem. Since animals are largely impacted by climate change, I highlighted this in my poem. I made my poem in the format of a sonnet, which has four stanzas. The first three have four lines each, and the last stanza has two lines. There should be a volta (shift) somewhere in the poem. My volta was when I went from stating aspects of climate change to questioning it. My mentor helped me edit it and use better vocabulary for some of the rhymes so it didn’t sounds forced.