sonora2sonoma

El Niño

*

White pelicans emigrating to Elkhorn Slough

            while basking sharks breach off Big Sur

Flying fish gliding over Monterey Bay

            as Baja sea slugs slither on the Berkeley flats

Black skimmers massing near Moss Landing

            while Tuna crabs from Mexico paint Orange County beaches red

Whales singing the songs of warming waters

            as they feed off the Farallones in record numbers

***

It’s been noted before . . .

Exotic tropical species, preceding an El Niño

pivoting northward along the Pacific coast

           by air, by sea, by land as well

Outside the box

beyond the margins agreed upon by precedent

            catalogued by science

            informed

            by the perspective of those whose views

            are limited by their lifespans.

***

The Old Ones looked to the animals

            for clues

            as to what the seasons would bring.

They paid attention to the subtle shifts of rhythm, timing and circumstance

            that made the difference between

            struggling to merely survive

            and ensuring their children would thrive.

The squirrels gathered more nuts

            preceding a hard winter

Certain plants produced more seed

            so that more might survive ’til spring

The geese aimed southward earlier

            as if called upon to do so.

***

Things fall into step

in a regulated economy

or they fail.

***

The Wise Ones of our current epic–

            the meteorologists–

                        learned in the ways of charts and graphs

                                    and computer simulations

            now sing the same song as the whales

As the waters warm

            exciting the atmosphere

            and arousing the hopes

Of those who pray for rain, for relief

            for respite from drought

that sweet counterpoint

            to a song so dry it cracks the throats

            of those who dare to sing it.

***

El Niño!

Let’s all pray for El Niño!

The “little boy” who would soothe our parched fields

            with life-giving sustenance

            while washing all our cares away

Along with all the soil that lost its mooring

            in the recent fires

            in the Mayacamas, in the Sierras

            and elsewhere in the West.

***

An anticipated and longed-for miracle

And yet

            as all else in life

A mixed bag of potential upsides, downsides

            opportunities and misfortunes

A multi-dimensional melange

            masquerading as a Monday morning weather forecast

            with no hint of irony.

A promising notion

            whose only guarantee is uncertainty.

*

Tim Konrad

11 October 2015