Thursday, May 04, 2006

NEWS

by Barbara Eknoian


The polar bears
are drowning
off the coast of Alaska,
swimming eighty miles
to find seals.
It's the Big Melt,
the CNN announcer says,
and walrus pups swim
without their mother;
they can't keep up
with her search for food.
The camera pans in
on lean polar bears
desperately eating
birds and berries
on their way to extinction.
The polar bears
are drowning
off the coast of Alaska.


Barbara Eknoian is office manager at Family Service, a counseling office. Her poems have appeared in Pearl and Chiron Review.