Countercurrents
Singapore
2019, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
(This is a reverse poem. It can be read, line by line, from top to bottom or bottom to top.)
the ocean must die, and we will kill it.
and I refuse to believe that
still there is hope for a better future.
somewhere in the waters by a tropical shore but
another coral withers
in truth
we are soulless monsters
and it is incorrect to assume
we will not give up, forever keep trying, never succumb
a slab of ice, ancient and massive, weeps and falls
somewhere in the melting Arctic
somewhere, miles below an undulating surface
sinking with a final, mournful bellow
a whale gives in to its criss-crossing lacerations
I weep knowing
there are still others left, struggling but alive.
I find joy in the fact that
the ocean is too far gone, and nothing can be done to save its vibrant life.
never will I say
we must conserve what is left.
of course, we realise that
we have mercilessly ripped into her depths. We have stolen so much
oil from her chest
to satiate our insatiable greed for
money.
we couldn’t care less about
saving life.
that life cannot be saved. All we think about is
that we are fighting a losing battle
and you are mad if you still think
we can do something.
Reflection
Reflection
I titled my poem “Countercurrents” because it represents two opposite paths, fighting and resisting each other. We are at the brink of life and death, and if we don’t make a change soon, the ocean will be lost forever. After hundreds of years of exploiting the ocean and its priceless life and ecosystems, humanity finds itself at a crossroads. There are two courses of action we can choose from. The first is to be passive onlookers, continuing to abuse the ocean to our own ends. The second is more difficult. We must realise that the ocean isn’t something we can take for granted. One day, in the not-so-distant future, the ocean will become irreversibly polluted, and humanity will realize our shortcomings too late. We must actively and consciously stop filling the oceans with our trash and stop hurting innocent sea life: we leave whales and turtles accidentally tangled in fishing nets to die. As WWF reported, one in every two sea turtles has ingested plastics, and 90 percent of the world’s seabirds have pieces of plastic in their stomach. This just accentuates the fact that while we humans assume the ocean belongs to us, it doesn’t. And it isn’t right that other creatures suffer for our actions. Arctic ice is melting. Coral reefs are bleaching. Countless species are going, going, gone… We are still at a crossroads. Now it is my generation’s responsibility to choose which current we want to follow, before it’s too late.