Epitaph for the Monarch Butterfly
by James Ph. Kotsybar
(This poem is best viewed on a PC)
Although we discover new species, diversity’s actual count dwindles.
Like friends you haven’t bothered to look up for a while,
when you miss them you find they’re gone.
They’d always be there,
so you thought,
but then
they’re
not.
EPITAPH FOR THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY
Can
anyone
prove that
on all of Earth
there is not one left?
Yes, passenger pigeons have passed,
but we have Internet messaging. Who needs birds?
One day, our drones may pollinate as well as living bees once did.
James Ph. Kotsybar, first poet (honored by NASA) to be published to another planet, has verse orbiting Mars at the MAVEN team’s request and through worldwide Internet voting in the Hubble Telescope’s Mission Log, on its 20th anniversary. He was awarded and featured in the NASA Centaur Art Challenge. Other honors include State Poetry Society of Michigan and Balticon Competitions. Invited to read before French Troubadours (Europe’s oldest literary institution), in their founding city of Toulouse, at EuroScience Open Forum, he earned a standing return invitation to this European symposium, and he once sang William Blake’s poetry with Allen Ginsberg.