drafted 2022, posted February 24, 2025
while the forests burn back to green
the ghost of the rare ivory-billed woodpecker
the first species I learned was extinct
from a VHS tape I rewound repeatedly
knocks like the last tracers of its footage
analog and distorted
this happens most often
in the evening when our old house cracks
as it loses its heat when our door settles
into its frame like a rabbit retreating
to a place it can pretend
it is no longer afraid
CODA, 2025:
even if we have been unobservable
to the people who think they get to decide
who exists and who doesn’t
this does not mean we are gone forever