Cover Photo: A close-up black-and-white photo of the shattered window of a car.
Photo courtesy of Nik Stanbridge/Flickr

Car Crashes, Climate Change, and Mothering Through Catastrophe

I recall a 2016 headline that warned, ‘Orangutans face complete extinction within ten years.’ Nash will be thirteen in 2026.

makes sense

How long before the cement reaches her?

The Photo Ark

It hasn’t been seen in the wild since 2000.

Helplessness.

helplessness

You’re okay. You are okay.

Nash. Papa is behind you. He’s coming through the trunk. You’re going to feel his hands on your back. Now, Riva, I’m unbuckling you. But I have you. I’m going to raise you in the air. And do you see Papa up there? Reach for him.

WhereNothing is okay. Nothing is okay. Nothing is okay.

How long before the future reaches them?

Christina Rivera Cogswell's essays are published at Orion, The Kenyon Review, Terrain.org., Catapult, Bat City Review, and elsewhere. She was the winner of the Pacifica Literary Review 2019 CNF Contest and a resident at  Millay Arts. She credits the fragmentation of her writing to her young children and is finishing her first book--a collection of ecofeminist reflections on motherhood in the face of extinction crisis. You can follow Christina on Instagram/social @seekingsol.