1 poem series
Dying Words
The current pace of human-caused carbon emissions is increasingly likely to trigger irreversible damage to the planet
Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to certain combinations of heat and humidity
highly populated regions of the world will be rendered uninhabitable sooner than previously thought
Dying Words
(“America,”
my
parasite
Dying Words
(the sky is fire (shed your skin
(soul of bullets, soul of cash
Dying Words
panic farm, sizzling burger sky (burst of cash,
burst of death (I had no right to want (I wanted
all the time, I wanted everything (my money,
my body, my oil
Dying Words
(I don’t see
how I can
help you
(bright air
(fire tsunami
(we don't even have
society
Dying Words
(where did you learn to smile (the bill
is due (I was exploding (I was my
twin
(we
have till
Dying Words
(prepare to
treat
patients
without
masks or
Dying Words
hands
(animal
populations
fell sixty
percent
Dying Words
(pleading with
judges
to stay
in
Dying Words
our
homes
(I was the human
game is breaking
Dying Words
(I was you hate what was called
human (I was please I am on your
side, please (we’ve wiped out
perhaps 90 percent of the
big fish
Dying Words
(the world is gone the world
is back (I am not who
I am
Dying Words
(some Americans seem to think,
some Americans seem, some (every
person, every last one, felt death for
the first time
Dying Words
(sky soft metal
(sky soft ice (part
of the truth you
can't
speak
1
Joseph Lease's critically acclaimed books of poetry include The Body Ghost (Coffee House Press, 2018), Testify (Coffee House Press, 2011), and Broken World (Coffee House Press, 2007). Lease’s poems “‘Broken World' (For James Assatly)" and “Send My Roots Rain" were anthologized in Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. Lease’s poem “‘Broken World' (For James Assatly)" was anthologized in The Best American Poetry (Robert Creeley, Guest Editor). His poem “Free Again (Why don’t people)” was published in The New York Times. Lease is a Professor of Writing and Literature at California College of the Arts.