Manuscripts written at the end of his life, / on an island in the glacial sea, / with scratching goose-quill
in bilious ink, / lists of two hundred and eleven / different plants, tales of white ravens, / as the animals
become extinct, Mount St. Helens fumes, remaking her face as she feels the disruptions around her: Earth’s homeostasis addressing the self-destructive
human assault on unknown cormorants and sea-cows, / gathered into the dust / of an endless
inventory, / his zoological masterpiece, De Bestiis Marinis, / travel chart for hunters, /
blueprint for the counting of pelts / no, not steep enough /was the north.