Muffled
Miller Place, NY
2016, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Whir of boat
and drill of oil,
Blip of sonar
and bang of mine,
Muffle the sound of their helplessness.
Dolphins scream,
but their children do not hear.
Whales cry out,
but their pod is gone.
Sea lions starve,
and seals become lost.
But the noise of mankind
Silences the sound of their suffering.
They are muffled.
They are silenced.
Reflection
Reflection
As a lifelong musician, sound has always been something that both inspires and intrigues me. Imagining the current plight of marine animals who rely on sound to communicate, navigate, and live arouses in me a deep discomfort. Noise pollution is a huge problem in our world, and one that only in recent years has become a topic of conversation in reference to the ocean and marine habitats. I have not yet learned how to help these creatures, but I have learned how to write about it. My hope is that sound pollution in the ocean will not only become more recognized, but also an issue that humanity as a whole can work to improve with innovations in boat engines, mining methods, and oil drilling techniques, to name a few.