On the floor, the plastic dinosaurs

organize themselves according to color:

pink, purple, orange, green, yellow, blue.

Of green, there are only two,

less than a fifth

of the next smallest color.

None are brighter than pink,

or lovelier than blue, or more

blatantly ferocious than orange,

but green stands out most

in its humbled verge

of extinction.

Then my daughter trucks them off,

each and every one,

on her tiny wooden cart.

Edward Nobles lives in Bangor with his wife and two daughters. His latest books of poetry are “The Bluestone Walk” (Persea Books, 2000) and “Queen of Truth” (not yet published).