If we join souls
Saratoga, CA
2020, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Iridescent color vanished from coral
Disappeared like wisps of decay
Ghoulish white
Fingertips
Gnawed raw to the bone;
Protruding bellies stretched tight with plastic
Hollow castles crumble, heaps of rubble are thrown
In the sea that weeps tears, that prays for
Forgiveness
But shouldn’t we be the ones asking for mercy?
Weren’t we the ones who trashed you, beat you,
Turned our backs
And killed?
Like cowardice traitors, we ran away
Invented excuses, forgot your embrace
The sweet wind, the soft sand, and the way
You cradled us, assured us that we had the power to
Change
We banged our fists against latched doors
But when our knuckles got bloody, we left; perhaps if the locks had been
As delicate
As fragile
As the shells we thinned with acid, the lies we cried
They could have shattered
When we lay lackspurs on graves can we say that we tried?
Or will shame prevent us from thinking our work was
Enough?
Shrill shrieks can’t be heard from corpses
But while alive, those beautiful, colorful spirits
They plea
They hope
That the fragile sounds of their voices
Will drift around and reach our hearts, our minds
Please, don’t let them dissipate in the plight of our choices
We can grasp them, heed their warnings, trust their willingness to
Fight
If we join souls, we can startle our leaders
With the force of our anger, with the fear in our throats
Our outcries
Our voices
Can convince their arms to extend
To remember our seas, stroke the ripples of waves
And caress the long-forgotten hand
Of oceans that tremble with a fierce love we can
Save
Reflection
Reflection
Although one of my lifelong dreams has been to snorkel amidst the Great Barrier Reef, I fear I’ll never experience it’s true magnificence—that unlike the colors in photos, the ocean floor will become a barren landscape. My poem begins with painting this bleak reality: we’re already seeing disastrous impacts from climate change. On some levels, we’ve already failed. Instead of learning from our mistakes, we continue emitting pollutants; instead of demanding change, we remain complicit in our daily lives. We may think of our oceans as vast, indestructible networks that remain impermeable to any stress, similarly to how a child may view his/her mother as invincible. While as the child grows up, he/she realizes that adults suffer and even shatter when pushed past their breaking point, humans have continuously failed to grasp that the oceans, too, are delicate. By absorbing our pollution, our oceans have sheltered us from the consequences of our mistakes, yet we have ignored their sacrifices. Eventually, they won’t be able to protect us any more. To save the oceans that have nurtured and loved us, we have to urgently act with a fierce and unyielding spirit. If our souls join, if we raise our voices, we can prevent future loss. There’s still hope.