Polar Bears

I open the morning paper,
turning it from one page
to the next and settle on a story
that says that there is more
and more evidence that
the earth is heating up.
There's a picture of a scientist
wearing a white coat and pointing
at a map of the north pole.
He's smoking a cigarette.
It's getting hot out there,
the ice caps are melting.
The polar bears are hungry,
some are starving, swimming
with no ice to rest upon.
It occurs to me that I've never
seen a polar bear, not even
at the zoo. But I've seen penguins.
I get up from the table,
put the paper down and find
the vodka and tomato juice.
I grab some ice from the fridge .
crushed ice, not the cubes,
and make a blood mary. I stick
a very green stalk of celery into
the glass, but it's strictly for effect.
I spice it up a little more with black
pepper and a shot of tabasco. I stir
it all up with the celery, take
a healthy sip, then go over to the
window. I stare out across the East
River, looking north. I try to see
where these polar bears might be,
but I can't see that far. However
in the street below I see a mob
of children screaming with joy,
some with their shirts off
in the blazing sun. A fire hydrant
is open, spraying a beautiful rainbow
into the summer sky.