Dear Seattle
Bellevue, WA
2021, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
This is Seattle.
Land of the sea,
And home of the rain.
Drops beating the ground,
An ocean of sound.
It’ll surround you, all the way around.
You’ll look up for the sun, but it won’t be found.
Clouds are with what the sky has been crowned.
Further down, wintertime births rain, not snow,
Sparkling in the sun with a soft white glow,
Dreams of what the weather gods would bestow—
Dashed.
Snow carpeting the ground, no noise,
Just a whisper of the wind’s quiet voice,
Dreams of laughter, the moment we’d rejoice—
Smashed.
Fast forward to the summer, to the sunniest days.
Feel the heat, the ways the sun beats down with its rays.
Throats ablaze, eyes glaze, unfocused in your daze.
Search for the water, for the streams where it should flow.
The rivers used to overflow. Now, they’re dangerously low.
Survival of the fittest. Death for those too slow.
Open this door to the future unseen before.
Listen to how the ocean churns and how the waves roar.
Look at the gleaming, dark shape washed ashore.
A tragic remnant of beautiful, majestic power,
Transcending the sea and the sky by the hour.
The orca whale, Seattle’s heart, its symbol, its flower.
Once a sleek body of darkness and light,
Now battered, beaten, broken by her fight,
Exchanged her fins for wings, she took flight.
Sing the story of the salmon before that of the whale,
The rivers rushed through their nests, leaving death in its trail,
Too powerful. Only a few at the end flail.
Watch the diseases ravage the fish like a flood,
Their bodies fall to the floor of the sea with a sickening thud,
Once sparkled in different tones, now only bones and blood.
The whale, she became the victim of this circle of strife,
Each pang of hunger tore into her like a knife,
Until she accepted the white flag and death in place of life.
She’s gone. Forever.
Not coming back. Ever.
No second chance. Never.
Is this Seattle?
Land of debris,
And home of the grave?
When we know that something is amiss,
Running headfirst into the abyss,
It is then that ignorance is bliss.
Let the lethargy and anger run rampant in our veins,
Keep our voices silent, chagrin the change forever for our chains,
Let someone else take charge of the reins and reign.
We’ll forgo the future and dwell on the mistakes of the past.
Then we’ll realize that these few breaths may very well be our last,
Only when the sun’s last rays have been cast,
Only when death’s jaws are closing in fast.
We’ll dream of the possible future too late,
Once where it stood wide open now will stand a closed gate.
No matter how much we’ll plead, time will not wait.
So let us stop skulking in the shadows and instead soar,
Let us forge our own paths, molten hot at the core,
Let us make our voices heard, let them hear our roar.
Our beautiful city is renowned nationwide for its spire,
A symbol that we can aspire, climb higher, inspire.
We are a community of unity, of thinkers and triers,
So let us light the way, be powerful and brave, like the fire.
We are Seattle.
Our land will be seen,
And our home will be saved.
Reflection
This poem was inspired by the significance of marine wildlife in my community, especially the distinctive populations of salmon and the beloved orca. I have never directly felt the effects of climate change, so I was shocked to see all the ways climate change affected my community negatively. Writing this poem filled me with anguish and sadness thinking of all the victims of climate change, but it also filled me with hope that we can improve. My goal in writing this poem is to generate awareness and action concerning the effects of climate change in my community right here and right now. To help combat the issue of water depletion in my community, I already eat a vegetarian diet and use reusable bottles, but I will also try to participate in local water restoration efforts, such as creating rain gardens and cleaning beaches.