Bucket
Potomac, MD
2021, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
when the sky and the bucket meet
I will be eternally free.
the sky is a bucket
infinite, versatile, full of hope, but always a gamble
to rain or not to rain—to live or not to live
waves lashing, the ocean thrashing?
I don’t think that exists.
on a journey stretching to infinity, on a journey to water.
my red bucket limps slowly at my side—faithfully, but out of time
red for love and red for blood
I need water, but it takes blood to get it.
There are three things I do in the morning
I turn on the sink and wet my face
A dollop of my favorite mud cleanser
the earth kills me
the sky is unfaithful
The water is unreachable.
together, they tear the ground apart, scorch my body, fill me with a burning desire
that cannot be quenched and deprive me of
Water… water water. I long for water.
I turn on the shower faucet
When it fogs the glass, I step inside
Frowning as the water stings my feet
I hear, and that is a blessing
my long walks are usually mute.
hearing means I am here
Oasis.
I fill my red bucket, stopping to glance at the water’s sparkling beauty, suddenly
daring to believe that waves lashing, the ocean thrashing, can exist, because I can hear
Oasis.
but as I wake up from its lure, I wonder, what kind of infinity barely keeps me alive?
so I turn back to the endless horizon.
I brush my teeth with peppermint toothpaste,
And bring the water-filled glass cup to my lips…
Smash!
Water sparkles everywhere, like diamonds in the sky
a second is infinite as I tumble down into the sand
Crack!
I hear the plastic of my bucket tearing,
of my life tearing
watching as the water sinks gratefully into the earth, soaking the very thing that kills me
my body cracking with despair, I hope
that water will pour down and quench the scorching blood red from the sky
fierce, passionate, unstoppable yet reachable
I wish, I wish upon my life, that I had water.
Reflection
As society continues to make mistakes but never really eliminates anything profound, we were naturally inclined to consider why. And the answer is, too many of us are happy to feel pity and sorrow for those who live in poverty, but our sympathy doesn’t extend to actually doing something. What we want is for society to change. As we composed this poem, we felt guilty. We were sitting in our chairs, doing whatever we wanted, but they didn’t have the same rights. As a global community, we should be looking out for each other, but we aren’t--and that is the biggest problem. Our message to viewers is to appreciate their privilege and not take things for granted, such as access to clean water, roofs over our heads, food to eat, and an education. We researched about the lives of the people in Somalia living through the severe famine and drought caused by climate change, where over 50 percent of the population is hungry, and over 2.6 million people become displaced. We learned that our actions of being wasteful and destroying our planet are not only negatively affecting our daily lives, but everyone around the world. Therefore, we will personally start using what we learned by trying to be as environmentally conscious as possible, through simple actions like bringing our own recyclable bags to the grocery store, picking up trash on the sidewalks, and using sustainable products.