Reflection

When individuals are confronted with an issue as daunting as the climate crisis, they are put into a state of discomfort by it, but this is where the inquiry ends for many. In order to be a changemaker, one has to channel this discomfort into action, and that is exactly what I have done throughout my life and by writing this poem. When I started to write, I knew that I wanted to represent the climate crisis in an abstract way, which would help pique the attention of my readers. From a literal perspective, the poem is about me drawing a picture of the Earth in my notebook with crayons, and when I get distracted by eating lunch, I return to find that my crayons have melted, ruining my drawing. However, what the poem really means is much more profound than this. In it, I represent all of humanity, and while I was drawing I understood that the world was both valuable yet being actively destroyed, which is the consensus among many today. Despite this startling realization, I decided to eat lunch instead. Lunch is meant to represent everything that prevents humans from prioritizing creating real progress in the fight against climate change, such as politics and economics. Even though this poem ends with a bleak portrayal of a possible future, a molten wax Earth, it is my hope that this fictional situation will imbue readers with a drive to prevent it from becoming humanity’s reality.