POEM – Vanishing Amphibians by Ray Hudson, Middlebury VT

The marsh is silent,
the water, the grass,

no high brief pinging
or contrabass.

An avalanche of species
breeding stock gone,

eyes all over their skins,
tongues all over their skins

eating our air —
tree-barked boulders,

blue porcelain clowns,
ruby-bellied emeralds,

golden harlequins.
Who was looking?

ISEE Newsletter 17, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 16