Are We Dead Yet?
Lagos, Nigeria
2024, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Growing up, the underwater kingdom Atlantis was a city so far from reality,
So beautiful and enchanting but something I believed was fantasy, never something I had to fear would become mine.
My world could never drown, I trusted the people, our towering sky with planted feet firmly on solid ground, unshakable, and worthy of space
Until I learnt that the Jamaican Port Royal city in 1692 was buried 11 feet underwater along with every single soul that resided there.
Pavlopetri, Shi cheng, Olous, Bangkok, New Orleans, and my home, Lagos.
Are all sinking because our seas are imbalanced, and in unrest.
Water warming, as we keep on ignoring our homes.
Our own – acidifying, over-consuming and fishing and killing, and trashing them with human and physical waste and bombs,
And yet we get to wonder why our oceans are in so much pain ?‘
My family home had to be flooded and maimed and destroyed – we had to temporarily become climate refugees, I had to witness my home town disappear from my sight through rising sea levels, erosion and loss of marine life to know that…
We are at war with ourselves,
Making our oceans and thus earth, overwhelmed by our myriad of bad choices
Slowly killing our body from the inside
Ripping out our organs, driving knives through our hearts, tearing apart our livers peace-by-peace and causing our central mind like coral reefs to disintegrate
Their scars remind us of all the bloodshed we continue to leave in ourr wake –
Without hardly batting an eye.
Without seeing our destructive acts as dangerous
But as just part of our lives.
I was five when I first swam in the ocean, drawn to it, my own little friend transporting me further into earth’s core.
But, I was four, when I believed that my pet fish would be safer with me than fighting to survive in the dirty waters and streams,
I mean… I was three, when I knew that what I saw on TV was not always going to exist, a worsening climate,
A violent remodeling of my dream to swim with whales and sea lions and the now-extinct caribbean monk seal –
That was killed because of increased boat traffic, water contamination, overhunting, and warmer seas
A mako mermaid barely making it as my people continued to
Discouraging my fantasies of becoming Princess Arial
A baby at two and confused about the plastic mess I saw near breathtaking oceans,
One, so connected,
but just about to be born when my grandmother drowned in it.
Her life lost, bathing in the ocean for its saltwater remedies while fighting the
Erratic melodies currents to remain afloat
She died because of our peaceful, boundless, and ethereal protector.
Underestimating its power, unprepared and greedy
Just waiting to be devoured by the sea.
Why can’t we save ourselves? Save her? Why do we have to keep on drowning and allowing ourselves to be shot in the foot time and time again?
Reflection
Reflection
To understand my vision, perspective and inspiration to write this poem, you have to understand my story first. It started when my paternal grandmother drowned swimming in the ocean 2 months before my birth, a month before my father got unexpectedly shot. Subsequetly, My mother incessantly pined any family problem to that uncontrollable drowning disaster. Living in Lagos and then moving to Cot’DoViore, two countries bound by the sea, my family lived afraid of nature and its immense power. I was different, I was entranced by it, constantly pushing back any restraints to go to the beach with friends, surf, and swim. Forming my own version of controlling and understanding nature’s power. Still an adventurous child, In the summer of 2019 my family home was flooded, our furniture was destroyed, our garden swamped and we were forced to move out. As a child with fierce passion and empathy for my community, I wanted to understand why it happened and how to ensure it never happened again. That year, there was 17 billion dollars in damage caused with over 1.4 million people being permanently displaced from their homes. This same year, I founded Preserve Our Roots, a by-youth for-youth Climate NGO and social movement that focused on educating, equipping and mobilizing Nigerians to become climate advocates and take care of their environment. Through this poem, I explain my sheer love for the experience, the happiness I felt and the awareness it brought. Since then, I have surfed over 3 different oceans, Spent two weeks at sea, snorkeled 3 more times and have begun advocating for cleaner waters and protection of marine life in my home town Lagos. This poem narrates my life through my relationship with the ocean, highlighting the need to understand, care for and respect it. Through this poem, I speak about the power, beauty and need to protect mother earth.