doomsday poem take two

 a world where birds no longer fly


we knew it wasn't a hoax this time
doomsday prophecies become history

we knew it was a storm of factors
racism
global pandemic
climate change
antisemitism

and all the rest -- terrifying displays
hate mongering
fear spreading
disease spouting

blind lies believed unquestioningly

the birds did not fly south for winter
for the first time in recorded history

they stayed, instead, and froze to death
falling dead from trees
rigid iced bodies
littering the sidewalk

flooding our lawns and streets, inescapable

like a world caught in a falling avalanche
we knew it was just the beginning


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