One Last Breath
Sterling, VA
2017, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
i. The monster
Slowly killing
Sucking the oxygen
Draining the life out of
An ocean in a headlock
But fighting is
Futile.
The plastic tightens its grip
Getting ready to deliver
The knockout punch
For the plastics come in waves
Growing by the second
Bags, containers, bottles
Our needs
Others’ demise
Fueling a hungry monster
Waters once as clear
As an unburdened soul
Turn gray and littered
A crust, endless
Of plastic on Top
Underneath there is more
Suffering
A turtle’s neck bulges
With a ring of plastic
Slowly pushing in
Killing
Arms of plastic death blanket
An ocean hanging on its
Last breath
The fate of us all hanging
On its survival.
But if the plastics are fueled
Fighting is
Futile
And in the end
The real monsters
Are Us
ii. The future
As she looks out across the wasteland
It can’t be, she thinks
50 years ago, this was inhabited
She looks down at the photo
Of Clear tides and sandy beaches
No resemblance to the brown, lumpy clump
Ahead of her.
She coughs and pull her mask down
The plastics have emerged
Victorious
And us?
It’s over.
Reflection
Reflection
I wrote One Last Breath to raise awareness about plastic pollution and to show how much we are to blame. I actually got inspired during a visit to the Natural History Museum, where I went to an IMAX film about the ocean. It was incredible seeing so many beautiful forms of marine life, from fishes to coral, all around me. It was only then I realized the true value of the ocean, and how humans need to be the savior instead of the destroyer. After seeing images of the Pacific Garbage Patch, I realized plastics are one of the biggest threats to the ocean. In this poem, there is a war between plastics and the ocean, where the plastics suck the oxygen from the water and kill marine life. When plastics break down, they become tiny shards called microplastics, which are even more deadly because organisms can’t see them. In the second movement, I show a glimpse of the future, and what’s going to happen when we destroy the oceans completely. “She” represents the endless people who this will affect. I sincerely hope that is not what happens, but unless we make serious changes, that might be our future.