When I Have Fears That Earth May Cease To Be
I think on the Cryogenian Period
when our planet was a snowball
for millions of years until volcanoes
bless them
sent enough CO2 into the atmosphere
to start a whole new cycle of
global warming that melted the ice
and things began again.
Which is when “complex multicellular
life” really took off, oceans full of fish,
plants, dinosaurs, (a meteorite ended them,
and now we have birds instead),
mammals, etc., and then I think we’re pikers
at this planet-killing game.
Our old mother, our maker,
she’s got more tricks up her sleeve
and plenty of time
and she’s not averse
to wiping the slate clean
so things can start over.
A poet, herbalist, and garden-tender, Christine Holland Cummings’ poems explore our connection to each other and to the more-than-human world. Her work has appeared in Iron Horse Literary review, Blueline, Manzanita Quarterly, Hamilton Stone Review, The Sand Hill Review, Reckoning, Dark Matter: Women Witnessing, and Quiet Diamonds. Her poems have been anthologized in Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California Poets and Our Last Walk: Using Poetry for Grieving and Remembering Pets.