A Mother and Her Children
Appleton, WI
2024, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
A poem can hardly describe the deepness of the waves
Nor the vastness of the seas
Nor the blue contrast against sunset skies
So, let me tell you instead, a story of a mother and her children
Look!
The ocean!
Hear its mighty crash and see its murderous gaze?
…It’s angry?
How can an inanimate globe of water be angry?
An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
Why, what an easy problem that can be solved
Spill some chemicals and let dispersion take place, you’ll see
It won’t happen again
It will happen again
But that’s not what Mother Ocean is angry about
Then why is she so mad?
Her children are dead
Her children?
Goodbye pelicans and birds of 102 species
Goodbye sea turtles of 6,000
Goodbye bottlenose and spinner dolphins
Goodbye melon-headed and sperm whales
Goodbye to all 25,900 dead marine animals and a larger, but unidentified number of fish
And goodbye to health, prosperity, and happiness
Goodbye oysters, crabs, and colorful coral
Goodbye blue waves and sun-kissed skies
Hello cold from this black, evergrowing, sickly substance humans call “oil”
Hello dehydration
Hello hypothermia
Goodbye life
Hello death
So…what will mother do?
She will avenge the loss of her children
How?
As they say, “an eye for an eye”
“A life for a life”
And across the shore
You can see it
Mother Ocean’s wrath
In forms of typhoons and hurricanes and tsunamis
Reflection
Reflection
I was inspired to write this short poem because of Deepwater Horizon Ocean Spill. I learned about this event in sixth grade and I vaguely remember being dumbfounded. I've always adored marine animals and to hear about such an event was absolutely mortifying. Of course, I didn't know this then, but I had no idea that oil can kill animals in such a terrifying manner. This introduction became a core memory that I never really forgot, but also never really talked about. I personified the ocean as a mom with all the dead sea creatures as "her children". I thought of this personification because the ocean was a safe haven and home. It acts as a barrier between land and sea, humans and nature. Along with this, I thought it would be interesting to think about aquatic natural disasters as some sort of "revenge method" the ocean was taking to avenge all the lost animals. I felt as if this is how any parent; mother or father, would feel if they lost a child. I wanted to begin the poem with a beautiful description of the sea as a contrast of its calm waters and rough waves. My overall message is that we have job to take care of our ocean. There are accidents and accidents are bound to happen, but I feel as if the ocean could be better taken care of. It's not just oil spills that are the problem. Pollution is another leading factor in animal deaths each year. In my hopes, I want there to be a better a future for both humans and the Earth.