"State Of The Planet"

The author is introducing a young walking in the rain with a backpack that has a book in it titled " getting to know the planet." He characterize her as a poor girl.
The narrator describes how her looks when it is wet by the rain, "splotch by smoky crimson splotech as the rain pelts it." That's a good view of the earth!

"Topsoil," rivers," cod," "haddock," "pacific salmon," these are the things that the narrator whats the reading auience to know that are being destroyed. Here in america we take advantage of the unique things that we enjoy at the expense of the nature of the earth. It is these kinds of things that the author is writing about.

The character that he speaks of "Lucretius," is a very good way of going way back in time to show how long we have been mistreating the planet. The narrator also speaks of mistreating animals in order to create new inventions. "In our art of natural philosophy can take the property of liminescence from a jellyfish and put it in mice." "An artist in Chicago-think of a great trading city in Dacia or Thracis-has asked to learn the method so he can sell people dogs that glow in the dark."

The poem characterize the book in terms of a teacher. As teachers, or educators we go to our books and teach children how the earth was formed. At the same time we do not teach them how we destroy their earth by killing animals for fancy jewelry. One detail is that we destroyed the mexican desert. We took the life of birds uncessarily. We destroyed trees.

The girl is the main character in this poem. The author is looking into her future of what is happening to the earth right now. Later she will see the beaches washed up, she will not be able to enjoy it. How awesome that he would compare Michigan waters to the Ukraine waters.

The narrator is speaking to scienctist. "Cells, bacterium, carbon dioxide, oxygen, dna." I don't think that we realize how we destroy the planet on a day to day personal level. He wants sciencetist to be more mindful of the discoveries that they make, and how the discoveries are being used. The girl walking in the rain is definitely the main character, it is her future that the narrator is looking at.

The author is looking at this situation in a worldwide view. From country to country these things are being done to the earth.

If we are to survive for the future of children, we really must think of nature more than what we have.

The narrator speaks a lot of Rome. There is much to understand there. The Roman Empire was destroyed. Maybe that is the big connection to this poem.