Earth

Verses of love and loss for our endangered flora, fauna and ecosystems, compiled by Vancouver's poet laureate.

“Having the good fortune to live in a home that is backed onto forest, I often feel as if trees are my neighbours,” he remarks. Victoria’s former poet laureate, Yvonne Blomer has just published a new collection of her poetry, The Last Show on Earth, exploring death, disability and the fate of our planet. You can hear recordings of some of the contributors reading from their work in the anthology, such as Tzeporah Berman, Carleigh Baker, Sonnet L’Abbé, Hiromi Goto and Rita Wong on the Storying Climate Change website. There is no shortage of wonderful and powerful poetry on environmental themes to inspire (or provoke) both reflection and action. Lilley noted that the poem evolved out of wonder for other creatures: “When I wrote ‘It’s Time to Talk of Hope’ it came from that experience of delight and joy at discovering how remarkable our fellow species are. The Quill & Quire published an excellent interview with Wong that surveys both her writing and activism. Some of the poems are written in response to paintings by Robert Bateman, such as the piece below that relates to his painting, Long Light — Polar Bear. Commenting on the inspiration for the poem, Blomer noted, “This bear looked so much like a guy leaning against a bar on an icy stool, and so I pulled in images of a bar and what you would eat at the bar… But we still must celebrate — and fight — for what we still have. of Earl Grey and a slice of spelt A few of the poems also take on a broader look at how humans can respond to the reality of extinction, such as the last poem of her book. If we all raise our voices, perhaps governments, institutions and corporations will finally hear us.