atonement
Bala Cynwyd, PA
2020, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
i. acknowledge
i’m barefoot on the sandy beach: waves breaking loudly, but our lack of action even louder.
you weep to the tune of tsunamis, //i’m dying// you cry. //help me// [splash] //save me// [splash].
you cry, & i cry back to you.
ii. confess
i lower my head the way a child avoids their mother’s glance
when they know they have done wrong & silently, shamefully, say,
// i’m sorry. we destroyed you. //
iii. repent
//forgive us// i beg, between wheezing breaths & tears, kneeling before you. but no matter
how many times i ask you to forgive, you cannot forgive
when we have watched you weep, waiting, waiting, waiting
for nothing. the ocean is overflowing from its own tears.
iv. atone
i take my hand, soaked in saltwater, & wipe my tears off. stand up, drag my toe across the sand
writing words of protest—sprawled out across the entire shore.
// hey, politicians! the ocean is your mother! you wouldn’t dump toxins in her, would you? you
would protect her with your dying breath! //
i stare out into the swells. // maybe, this way, if we all speak out, someone would listen. //
v. forgive
ocean, do you still love us? can you forgive us? i am trying to help you, but what if i can’t? how
do i take your polluted waters & turn them pristine?
ocean, how do i save you?
vi. restore
ocean, we will protect you because we can’t live without you.
i promise you, we will cut our CO2, we will, we will, we will, we will, we will, we need to—
there is still a chance because we, are still fighting.
because we, the youth, care enough, are powerful enough, brave enough to inspire, to create
change, to save you. because ocean, i know we can save you.
Reflection
Reflection
Although I'm not religious, I took inspiration from the eight steps of atonement, which I once heard over the radio. This allowed me to start from a point of sadness and destruction—where we are now—and become hopeful as we try to save our futures. I actually struggled with the poem at the beginning because I couldn't find anything about climate change hopeful. Some days, I still don't. However, what made me realize we still have a chance is that we are still fighting because there is still hope. While climate change makes me anxious and worried for our future, the protests and activists give me hope. Writing the poem actually made me hopeful because it forced me to think about what we are doing, not just what we aren't. I tried to evoke closeness with the ocean by comparing it to mothers and calling it "you" in the poem. I wanted to make the ocean a warm figure that you couldn't help but want to protect. The poem was inspired mainly by Greta Thunberg and Jamie Margolin, mainly the former's speeches and the latter's social media presence. Thunberg's speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit actually inspired the speaker's quote in the poem. I find her repetition of the words "how dare you" impactful and inspiring, and I wanted to emulate that. We need action to save our future and our climate, and I hope I inspired others to do so!