Extinction
written by: Emily Fluckiger
And it wasn’t like they entered my house slowly
they didn’t creep up the stairs or skitter down the hall
I didn’t have time to crouch down and peek under the door
to see cloven hooves and slimy skin tip-toeing toward me.
They didn’t hunger for me, or drag me out into a field
to beam me up into an unidentified flying object.
They infiltrated my life slowly.
My cancerous tumor turned out to be a nest
Human treatment and therapy only caused festering
mutating, adaptation to our environment.
And it wasn’t like my blood was their life-force.
Their breath didn’t suffocate me, nor their blood burn my skin.
I didn’t see wide-set unnaturally large eyes observing me
they didn’t study, prod, or probe me.
I gave them no information, only protection.
My family watched me grow sicker and weaker with puzzled expressions
Determined doctors made promises they couldn’t keep
And although I felt deathly, I knew life was near no end for me
This was about coexistence
They didn’t come to take our planet
They didn’t desire to murder me
And although revenge seemed apparent
this was about survival.
What we didn’t realize is our waste affected more than us
more than our planet’s animals, and plants.
Chemicals that threatened cancer in our children
were significantly more deadly to theirs.
Earth was their last option
We were their only hope, their killers.
Yet we remained selfish and fearful
and ultimately, entirely eliminated their species.
Human choices were their extinction.
And when they quietly came to ask for our help
we immediately assumed evil intentions,
and brutally finished what our chemical waste began.
Although this gave me a chance to grow strong again
I could not, wanted not, to survive when they did not.
Because of earth inhabitants’ self-centered surreality
I gave up, and my last tear was not for me or my family.
- Extinction - February 16, 2019
- No Rest For The Winner - October 12, 2018
