Mother Nature’s Hands
Las Vegas, NV
2024, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Saturated hues of green, lush amber, mahogany brown, pure vermilion
An oil painting delicately sculpted with a fine hair brush.
Colossal and alive scenes were always erratic and in short view, eternal.
Although plastered onto woven nylon canvas,
I distinctly heard the gossamer-like trees oscillate in the passive winds
The gentle undulation of the crisp, coarsely salted ocean
The news remarking awareness about global warming
Her little actions screamed a stop to rising temperatures.
They were dependent on me.
Although I didn’t co exist,
The living thrived off of what I provided.
My hands worked briskly,
Making sure my provisions never ran out.
A painted world filled of placidity
Their cravations always fulfilled.
I wanted them to live in longevity and satisfaction
I unfeignedly felt as if I were their mother.
A night so archetypal, no leaf out of place
My hands grew tight at the joints and my eyes heavy.
I shut my stinging eyes, just for a second
My vision was corrupted in scorching flames
Flesh and bone scalded and habitats consumed by the fire
They erratically ripped apart their home
Piece by piece, rawly.
Their land found its breaking point.
Agitated, I vigorously blew at the canvas
Robust tornados callously impacted ground
The air got perfused with suffocating, thick debris and pollutants.
My heartbeat acutely incremented
A high magnitude earthquake intemperately rumbled the earth
The eye blistering luminescence seared and pinched at my face
I recklessly scrambled for untouched ocean,
Lunging the contaminated, inadequate water over the hurtling flames
A short lived, lobbing tsunami swallowed the scene
The fire was hushed with dense smoke and spewings of ash;
Ash that now blankets the corpses of the once living,
And once green planet.
I cried, tears of enrage and resentment,
Of betrayal and ache
For once, it rained.
Reflection
My work was based on what I believe it would be like to be Mother Nature. Global warming has affected our earth for decades. Millions of protesters have gone onto the perilous streets to spread awareness on occurring, and hopefully reversible damage done by humans. After surveilling the news, I wanted to take part in creating a better future for our planet. Going on a protest wasn’t a tactic I used to try to take a leap on ending global warming though. I would sew tote bags from old fabric and use sustainable items daily. The fire that eventually wiped out the planet was the accumulation of human made emissions and “small” actions that most say are “harmless” to our planet. The earth took matters into its own hands by letting the fire run to wipe out the problem. The extreme natural disasters were the attempts Mother Nature made to stop the fire, further worsening the situation. "Mother Nature's Hands" let me create a connection with our planet. I felt agony for the future, knowing that the damage would overwhelm the earth to a limit, as written in the poem. But optimism for a better planet. My message is every action made to stop global warming counts. It might seem insignificant, but it makes the difference, it takes all of us to overcome this global problem.