Dear Human
Rocklin, CA
2019, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Dear human,
remember me?
I am a krill,
a tiny creature that swims in the sea.
While you may not care about the effects of your actions,
all your pollution does not come for free.
If we went extinct,
the ecosystem would be a tragedy.
Dear human,
I never forgot about you.
I am a special whale
made of the color blue.
You have made my main prey, the krill,
almost through.
I have tried and tried
to make do,
with what you have done to my environment.
Some changes need to be made if you want to keep me around,
So stop making climate change a taboo.
Dear human,
What’s up?
I am a ringed seal.
I spend every day
thinking about where I will wind up.
The disappearing ice means a higher death rate
for my future pups.
Next time you want to burn coal,
make sure you first think about your role.
Dear human,
don’t forget about us.
We are the ones that may die
due to your petroleum lust.
While some of you deny it,
climate change is worth making a fuss.
Our natural resources
are no longer in surplus.
The next time you feel like polluting the oceans,
remember us.
Reflection
Reflection
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This quote inspired me to put myself in the position of these marine animals, instead of writing from the point of view of a human. I noticed how, while most people are sympathetic towards affected marine animals, not many actually wonder how they would feel if some other creature was controlling the temperature of their ecosystem. I decided to format the poem as different endangered species writing letters to humans, with the last stanza being a collective voice crying out for help. By putting ourselves in the point of view of endangered marine animals, we can finally realize how we can save these precious creatures for generations to come.