Missing the Point

Imogen Arate

Do black and white swans fight to the death
Does ROY-G-BIV break into gangs over each other’s hue
Though orange carrots dominate the grocer's display
rainbow siblings hold their own in an inclusive array

Would great bards have achieved their fame
if nature blanched herself to one shade
The original artist displays her preference
in a colorful palette

From her patchwork skin to the pastiche
textures of her multi-layered frocks
her bohemian approach gave us both
the black sands of Tahiti’s Lafayette Beach
and the White Cliffs of Dover whose majesty
we’d happily traverse continents to behold

Yet the neophyte believes “we know better”
than she who made us
Meager knowledge and infinite ego
arm our ceaseless pursuit
of one another's demise in foolery
befitting a tragicomedy

We belittle her accomplishments
we find a constraint against our arrogance
We whittle down the variety of multiplicity
into the monotony of favored colors shapes
sizes tastes and even thought patterns

only to upset our home’s
finely calibrated equilibrium
deforesting her coats to plague
boiling her patience to rage
fracking her to quake in grief
and precipitate swells to engulf
the stability of our very own existence 

The Science

This poem touches on the importance of biodiversity for both our survival as a species and also the ecological balance of our planet.  In addition, it also references the brief timeline the human species occupies in the Earth's existence, as well as our arrogance despite our utter lack of knowledge in relation to all that's knowable and unknowable in the universe.  

The Poet

Imogen Arate is an award-winning Asian-American poet and writer and the Executive Producer and Host of Poets and Muses, an award-winning weekly poetry podcast. She is keen to keep abreast of the latest scientific knowledge and often incorporates what she's learned in her writing. Her works were most recently published in Rigorous, The New Verse News and Dear Vaccine. You can find her @PoetsandMuses on Twitter and Instagram.

Next poem: Morraine by Debbie Lee