i am made of ancient forests, denuded by industrial logging
fragmented, scattered, frayed, clinging to the most remote valleys
i am made of rivers, cauterized by modernity
channelized, dammed, diverted, scoured by hydraulic mining, polluted with tailings waste
i am made of mountains, leveled from mining
blasted, fractured, hollowed out, collapsing from material greed
i am made of great plains, parceled by fencing and ownership
tilled, harrowed, overgrazed, monocultured, drowning in fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide
i am made of swamps, drained for subdivisions
parched, filled in, paved over, sprouting cul-de-sacs
i am made of endangered species, habitat fragmented for development
sage grouse thrumming the desert, silenced by drill rigs whirring
i am made of wolves, scapegoated by lazy hunters and fearful ranchers
howling forlornly, paw caught in trap, forgotten in suffering
i am made of mountain goats, seeking refugee from the heat higher in the mountains
perched precariously on the ledge of extinction
i am made of humans defending the sacred, laying lives before bulldozers
disrupting board meetings and auction houses selling Mother Earth
i am made of wild unborn primordial eros, erupting volcanoes,
shifting plates shaking continents, glaciers collapsing and flooding, ocean swelling and swallowing shorelines