You watch the snow fall outside
your bedroom window. The prospect

of being snowed in paints a bleak
picture of days stretching with no

thingness. You don’t know then
that someday you will sit

next to the love of your life witnessing
Etienne Charles’ debut

of Earth Tones. Nor did you know
greenhouse gases were blanketing

the ground, trapping the sun’s
heat. The trumpet sounds a siren

to the stories shared on screen
like the one about the Puerto Rican

town disappeared
underwater, only kept alive

by descendants performing
songs and dances in honor of her.

Imagine—we can make our planet
inhabitable again

like when you quit
smoking your lungs begin

to heal. Believe me—
we will do this

before the snow melts.