NaPoWriMo Day 23 - "Last Chance"

Today's prompt:

And now for today’s prompt (optional, as always). One thing that makes me want to write poetry is reading poetry. Sometimes, reading another poet’s work gives me an idea or image. And sometimes I read a poem that I want to formally respond to – whether because I agree with it, or disagree with it, or just because it starts a conversation in my head that I want to continue on the page.

Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that responds, in some way, to another. This could be as simple as using a line or image from another poem as a jumping-off point, or it could be a more formal poetic response to the argument or ideas raised in another poem. You might use a favorite (or least favorite poem) as the source for your response. And if you’re having trouble finding a poem to respond to, here are a few that might help you generate ideas: “This World is Not Conclusion,” by Peter Gizzi, “In That Other Fantasy Where We Live Forever,” by Wanda Coleman, “La Chalupa, the Boat,” by Jean Valentine, or “Aubade: Some Peaches, After Storm,” by Carl Phillips.

This prompt troubled me to begin with. There are so many good poems and I don't think I really have a favourite or one that really speaks to me, at least I have to be in the right mood for the right poem. So I decided to take a different tack, and came here for the Poetry Foundation poem of the day to see if it could give me inspiration. And it did. It was a poem called Earth Day by Jane Yolen. Here is my response poem:

And we
Upon this Earth must see
That we cannot live
Or breathe
Without the buzzing insects
The fish that seethe
Within the oceans
Without those very waters
Which we drink
There are many who think
That they are above
Nature’s ways
But if the present dallies
It will be the future that pays
 
Climate denial
Is wrong, is vile
It pretends to ignore
The fear and famine
The death and upheaval
Of bitter war
If our planet Earth
Decides to cleanse itself
To wash away
The human ants in a rising tide
To say
You had your chance
But now you are a boil
I have to lance