- 22ndcenturyamherst
The Season's Green Genocide - Walker Resnick
The yellow veins of light spread out
Across the leaf as blades of grass
Softly caress the red face of the
Curled up piece of what had once
Been so vibrantly green.
It sits among so many
Other individual stories.
Stories of what were once
Green but now yellow,
Brown, red, and all shades
In between.
A field of dead leaves
Blanketing a bed of resentful
grass. The great battle is being
Waged again.
The desperate, competition
For sunlight and the desolate hope
That they will not be forgotten
By the men raking, or even better
Those huge blow-dryers
Called leaf blowers.
The knowledge that all is hopeless,
That the white, wet snow will slowly
Smother their dreams. All their hopes
Fears, and ambitions will forever be
Snuffed out. It is hard to live an entire
Life, an entire generation in a year.
Walker Resnick is a junior at UMass Amherst in the English Department. He is 24 years old and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. He intends to become a school teacher. Walker writes poetry and prose across many different subject areas. He is deeply concerned with environmental and climate change issues and is in continual awe of the complex and beautiful workings of nature.
Walker can be reached at wresnick@umass.edu