Preamble for a New Generation
Jupiter, FL
2020, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
we, the children, are surprised only for a moment
when wings erupt from the base of our scapulae
flesh and feather, but
there is nothing soft about them,
color of industry and adorned
with yellow-brimmed eyes,
wing finger bones like a village of knives
before the first joint ruptured through,
our backs had been bruised,
festering sores for years
even before we were born
they gorged on the splayed
bellies of red beasts
in 1979, a panel of scientists from 50 countries warns
that humans are causing a rise in global temperatures,
says “it is urgently necessary to act”
why didn’t they act?
were they so caught up in the feeding,
in guzzling oil slick and rubber fume,
to see the sky was on fire?
the locusts shrieked,
and the sunset swelled over
smog, violent as an uncleaned wound
in the flash flood, lightning sinks teeth into anything tender
the harvest bears only barrels of spoiled wheat
in 2018, less than 12 months
after the US pulls out of the Paris Climate Agreement
the United Nations reports that we have
12 years before the catastrophe is irreversible
in our chosen future,
we are just teenagers
molted feathers at our feet
the earth has so much potential
and our whole lives are spilling out in front of us
like an oncoming stream
it’s not like we really believe
buying metal water bottles and beeswax wrap
will stop the world from ending,
we, the children, call us bird-boned,
call us naïve,
but here is the plan:
we paint protest signs after history class
steer sailboats across rising seas
we scowl and seethe
sound our brass trumpets
we look straight into the eyes of our world leaders, unflinching
and on the streets we scream.
Works Cited
“A History of Climate Activities.” World Meteorological Organization, 27 Nov. 2017, public.wmo.int/en/bulletin/history-climate-activities#:~:text=The 1979 World Climate Conference, now usually referred to as, February 1979 (Figure 2).
Watts, Jonathan. “We Have 12 Years to Limit Climate Change Catastrophe, Warns UN.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Oct. 2018, www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report.
Reflection
I was most inspired by global news, fellow students, and local climate strikes to craft an eco-poem that speaks to uplift. So many of us hear about environmental concerns over ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and plastic pollution, yet we do not seem to have this sense of urgency to preserve our fragile ecosystems and enact meaningful change, even when opportunities to do so are in plain sight. However, both past and present states of environmental activism, whether it be the First World Climate Conference or the recent Paris Climate Agreement, have proven that humanity has made great strides towards solving the current climate emergency. And it is my hope that this poem serves as a battle cry, a catalyst for even greater strides in transforming this crisis into hope. Only by harnessing the pain and suffering that has plagued our dark climate past can we leap towards a brighter future. In the face of our current environmental situation, complacency is no longer an option. We, the next generation, must push towards the frontier for global change. We, the students, thinkers, and activists, must "turn the tide."