"Enablers of Global Warming" by Ahrend Torrey

Enablers of Global Warming

Power plants; leaving the porch light on;
running sprinklers; long showers;

air conditioners running, and running,
and running; long commutes in gas-powered

automobiles; chemical plants; oil refineries;
lights, lights, and more lights; fuel-burning

eighteen-wheelers on interstates; gas-
powered boats on bayous; mowing grass

with gas-powered lawn mowers; weed-eating
with gas-powered weed eaters; manufacturing:

bags, plastic bags, plastic bottles;
eating steaks instead of salad; eating cheese;

eating yogurt; eating lamb; an Uber ride
to the mall; manufacturing:

automobiles, incandescent light bulbs,
washers, dryers; wildfires — disbelief.

#

July, 2023

Now look at us fry on
this hottest day on earth.

Ahrend Torrey

Ahrend Torrey is the author of Ripples (Pinyon Publishing, 2023), Bird City, American Eye (Pinyon Publishing, 2022), and Small Blue Harbor (Poetry Box Select, 2019). His work has appeared in Slippery Elm Literary Journal, storySouth, The Greensboro Review, The Westchester Review, Welter, and West Trade Review, among others. He earned his MA/MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and is a recipient of the Etruscan Prize awarded by Etruscan Press. He lives in Chicago with his husband, Jonathan, their two rat terriers, Dichter and Dova, and Purl, their cat.

Headshot: Jonathan Dacula

Photo Credit: Staff