FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER 2020 ~ POETRY PROMPT ~ ‘The birds didn’t go south for the winter’
TEMPORARY CATASTROPHE
by John Yeo
The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year
Since global warming started climate change
It was puzzling to see them remaining here.
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Due to the heating up of the atmosphere
The unusual seasonal effects seem strange
The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year.
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They changed their presence on the biosphere
Swifts and swallows were soaring their range
It was puzzling to see them remaining here.
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The perpetual dawn chorus was tunefully clear
Insects remained to live in a strange disarrange
The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year.
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Natural consequences would be surely severe
Science would need adaptation to rearrange
It was puzzling to see them remaining here.
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It was mysterious to witness such abrupt change
Wings have ceased to fly the global sphere
The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year.
It was puzzling to see them remaining here.
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© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.
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When I first saw this prompt l began thinking about the consequences of global warming on the whole of the avian family.
The heating of the atmosphere is such a slow insidious process that the consequences to birds wouldn’t be an instant event.
Obviously this would not be a simple matter for birds as migration is linked to food supply and food supply would have to increase to cater for the birds. If there could ever be a continuous food supply in one area for the birds that didn’t fly South and were able to survive, surely breeding patterns would change and there would certainly be an over-abundance of birds, thus putting more pressure on the food supply. A good subject for a poetic flight of fancy.