Updating the Red List

“The art of losing isn’t hard to master.”  –Elizabeth Bishop

Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Regionally Extinct, Critically 
Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened— 
The Red List is a menagerie of common names and unpronounceable Latin, 
pixelated faces, tree limbs, ferns. I click and drag each picture 
to its proper place, count the lost and the losing, spend my time

guessing genus and region by common name alone—
before I read the notes. It’s easier to have my silent game, 
something I can win. Why should it make any difference 
if I know their numbers? Just a paycheck.
I like to open the window while I work, listen 

to birds that haven’t made the list yet. I don’t know why 
I do this—click through with a heart hardened to loss.
A practice in pretending I don’t care. I tell myself they’ll listen 
to the science; it’s not just a funeral song, no elegy. 
Though in reality I do nothing but read and type and talk, 

and try not to memorize the names, try not to say them with my full 
voice. Ever a whisper. The birdsong grows quieter each morning. 
At the bottom of each page a button says, “Show More."