LISTEN TO READING

I
In Kauai, Hawaii—a place I’ve never been— I see the Laysan Albatross, nesting.

II
Running a species off the planet
at the whimsy of a feather boa or hat

makes light this burden borne by
the eponymous bird, the albatross

Unable to regurgitate hooks and plastic
and snagged by nets

it has been stuck up
to its neck in the muck

Muck uncoiled from
Fukishima’s boiling wave

Wave that slapped so hard
it fell backwards

onto an Hawaiian atoll—
Oh the role of the albatross is so onerous—

It must try to escape
dog, pig, house cat, pet mongoose—

Even he US military has declared
the world’s oldest living bird

an aviation hazard

The seas submerge
10,000. 200,000 nests count

the losses. The causes—
our albatross