Mother Ocean
Lake Oswego, OR
2021, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
In the beginning, Earth born from the void
Inferno—desolated shell of molten rocks
—arid, bleak, & sterile, of sizzling magma
until its Blood—the Ocean—a divine gift
—of the Old Testament, Sea was granted before Land
—of Chinese folktales, sublime Blood of the fallen Creator
—of Science, brought by an alien comet or condensed by magma vapor
—who knows?
So on the creation stories go
—the Ocean mothered primordial Life
from her womb—brewed C, H, O & N
into amino acids; Primitive Strands of Life
Billions of years past, Life fused & radiated
shifted & faded
—millions of years past, from fertile Sea soil
she raised her children—higher & higher
—of finned swimmers evolved into Tetrapods came Locomotion
—small step for the Gilled, giant leap for the Eukaryote
—of Autotrophs sprouted from her scalp came O2 & nourish
Heterotrophs settled in Safe Haven to flourish
—for Homo Sapiens wouldn’t exist without her
our body cycles with universal water
—every flora & fauna lives to tell her tale
The Giver & Her Children
Mother Ocean is ancient & vast—
fossils in sediments mark her past
Mother Ocean is living & breathing—
O2 treks her vessels & CO2 down her lymph nodes
Labyrinths of kelp & myriad fishes pray
pelagic sojourners migrate array
—pilgrims dance in each pulse of the current
—her heartbeat
Mother Ocean answers each prayer—
granting each Heir with Food & Air
Of Freedom, Equipoise, & Harmony
a food web—a Circle of Life
until came Homo Sapiens—a dissonant melody
Gargantuan Avarice masked by prosperity
—of roaring ships that tear apart waves—
with red—blood of a stupendous whale
—of exploiting the most divorced ambiance
drills penetrate her benthic abysses
oil spills—dying sea birds into dead crows
—of brine water sourer than vinegar
corals bleach & conches corrode
—of littered fish carcasses rot on shore
the water opens for plastic—abhor
Mother Ocean is dying—and we are too—
—of fish that drowned in hypoxic water—she stops
breathing & indigent fishermen begged
God for their next meal
—of plastic on the beach, in the sea, & engulfed by prey
a nest of albatross starves to death, full-stomached
—for every dish we eat with maritime things
microplastic plugs our veins
—plastic escaped from our washing machines
—plastic we didn’t clean from beach picnics
—plastic that “cost too much” to dispose of
rogue plastic that meandered transmarine—our premortem pain
Indignant—Mother Ocean sends us
back the toxic fruits we grew
—of dense red tides pouring into our shores
humans & other creatures suffocate alike
—of oil spills & garbage patches
poisoning our lungs
—of Arctic Ice cracking afar
a storm is brewing—the sea is rumbling
we hear civilizations crumpling
We swim in Elixir of Death—drowning
easier than Jenga—storms & floods tearing down houses
on the news—matchstick people fleeing & dying
Mother Ocean is rising—unforgiving
& this time no Ark or Deity will save us
Our decision, our consequences
wealth bought with our Siblings’ corpses
—only we can choose our own Saints & Saviors
only together, we will survive & alleviate the tides’ fury.
Reflection
Three years ago, I joined a volunteer organization that cleaned public beaches. Before then, I had never noticed (or even cared to notice) how much litter we casually drop among the seemly bottomless sand. I was highly disturbed by some weird items I found – used needles, latex contraceptives, and what seemed like the remains of a seagull entangled in a dry fishing net. This was a poem I started writing on Earth Day and gained further inspiration from Mother's Day. Half-inspired by ocean-involved environmental issues, I also wanted to explore the theme that all living organisms are interconnected by a universal Mother Ocean – where the first common ancestor cell(s) arose. This connection means more than a great body of water that physically links the entire planet's crust, but also a transcendental journey of evolution, cultural development, ecological footprints, and the gravity of maintaining biological equilibrium. This poem starts with a eulogy about Mother Ocean to convey her vitality – she is more than an inanimate body of water; she shelters a multitude of life forms. Then it addresses the grievances of Homo Sapiens's pollution and over-exploitation of nature, plus the catastrophe we bring to other organisms and ourselves. The goal of this poem is to crush a common illusion that our ocean is infinite. The damage humanity has done upon it is irreversible. The only way to alleviate our damage is by uniting all global citizens to adopt more sustainable lifestyles and protest against selfish decision-makers. We're stuck in this dilemma together, regardless of nationality and cultural identity.