Valerie Harms

Polar bears standing on ice floes
Mere skeletons, humped over, starved,
Sitting on melting ice floe in water
Where is food, the next ice floe?
Ice melts, water flows, melting the floes
A mother with cub or two who
Need her for two years.
Seven-eight feet long to short tail,
Small ears, round black eyes,
Big black nose, heavy white coat
Webbed feet that help for swimming
Non-slip pads that don’t disturb ice when they
Put their weight down
A hollow top coat that reflects sunlight
And looks white, a black layer of skin,
A thick layer of fat that traps heat below.

They only live in the arctic circle,
Northern parts of the U.S., Canada,
Russia, Greenland, and Norway.
Bears’ favorite food is seal blubber.
They wait by an ice hole for the seal to breathe
Or climb up to bask but with less floes,
No seals. In harder times they’ll
Eat reindeer, eggs, birds, foxes,
And humans’ garbage.

Global temperatures mean sea
Ice forms for shorter periods
Bears have to travel long distances
For food. Or fast for months.
Bears are much skinnier. Offshore oil
Drilling and exploration brings
Disturbance and pollutants.
Polar bears were the first to be
Put on Endangered Species list.