Ink and Courage
Palo Alto, CA
2023, Junior, Performing Arts
Climate Hero: Rachel Carson
Through the light, tinted blue
Darkness now awash with that ghostly hue
I see an electric fantasy
Vast, unfolding in front of me
The metal mirror lies flat in my hand
Obscuring my vision with every strand
That it unravels from the fabric of truth
Until all you see is
The earth dying
On her knees crying
And the shadowy men in italian suits lying
And denying
While they rip her apart with great steely knives
Ignore armageddon and endanger our lives
And I
Just waste on the couch
Dreaming of 2055
What I would see when I arrive
My eyes
Water
My heart falters
I feel like giving up right there
And then her story pulls me up from despair.
A student of nature
A born creator
Who blazed the trails
And studied the patterns of the whales
Without fail
With just the fire in her eyes and the ink beneath her pen
She shook the world without relent
In her words she could paint the sea
Describe life divine and free
She could foresee
The only way to change our destiny
Was with people, to make them see
That we are just one part of life a whole,
Filled with self-importance,
We place ourselves at the center of the universe
Almost tumorous,
During the second world war,
We continued to misuse and mar
Venom and pesticide seeping into the ground
Earth still bears the scar.
However, she wouldn’t let that be ignored,
She wielded her pen like a shield and sword,
The earth was a price she couldn’t afford.
She roared
With paper in hand and a shine in her eyes,
She stood up to the industry and its lies
Her statement of courage would shatter the guise
It lives still
The genesis for all those striving to inspire
Her ideas sparking a fire
A desire
To unite before it’s dire
To fight for change with art
She touched my heart
Rachel Carson
Pulled me out of the digital farce and
Told me to let my music come from the soul.
Reflection
Through COVID times, like many, I spiraled into a cycle of depression and doom-scrolling, feeling eaten away by the passing time and suffocated by the bad news surrounding us. I had just moved, and so I had no friends or support system to help me get through it. Instead, I took refuge in my art and writing, publishing essays and poems to capture my emotions - and through this I realized that art, and the ability to resonate within the guts of people, is what allows people to fight against circumstance and overcome. So when I heard Rachel Carson's story, and others like her, it fueled me to pursue my passion of music and writing to truly make impact. I feel empowered to shake the earth and make a difference. I can't stress enough how grateful I am to Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs for pushing me to my limits and showing me what I can do!