Sea-song
Ellicott City, MD
2018, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
i. rubato
First, the ocean sang how she laughed –
A giggling melody expansive across the shores
So broad yet precise in every wave and
Pushing against the rhythm and the tension to break free
Coming apart and together in organized chaos
A thousand different notes, shifted and ringing
A dancing sort of song, echoing quick in the hollows between
The sands and the bones of her children –
She sang like a mermaid, refreshingly feral
Beautiful and capricious, lush lips and sharp teeth
That bare and hide themselves without thought –
We learned what reverence was, then
ii. più mosso
Then, the ocean sang how she spoke –
The thoughts and phrases tumbling over the other
Bubbling and gushing, slurred together
Crests scrambling to gain purchase,
swelling gently against hands that rut out
A hollow version of the tempo she claims,
Trying to coax them out and away from her depths
With a marching, cautious rhyme set to tune –
She sang like a siren, sternly warm
Coaxing and smiling with a hint of warning
Sluicing through the depths of translucent whispers –
But we had learned what wax was, too
iii. precipitando
Then, the ocean sang how she screamed –
Roaring and clamoring, a darkened, roiling sky
Thundering through the surges of the water
Waves careening and crashing in great bursts
Throwing their anger across the agitated tides
Teeming with fury at the black streaming up
To a heaving surface belting out a bitter chorus,
Fighting against clear, pale intruders floating innocently –
She sang like a kraken, violently fearful,
Thrashing and writhing to fend off a world
That wants to make it bleed against broken bottles –
We had not yet learned what humility was
iv. stringendo
Now, the ocean sings how she cries –
Gasping for breath as she drowns among tears
Wrought from her children drenched in inky destruction
Choking from the impervious rings around her neck
Lungs, clogged with cigarettes and nets, bursting
Trying to keep the vortex of shiny death deep down
As she runs away from a man-made gag
Of nets and poisons and selfishness –
She sings like a selkie, hauntingly wistful
Of the time when her own offspring listened to the lullabies she sang,
Of a time when her offspring would learn what drought is the hard way-
We must learn what consequence is
v. morendo
Next, the ocean will sing how she sighs –
Through garbled throat and tangled fingers,
Fighting imposters made to look like satisfaction,
Eking out nothing but a solemn, slow hymnal
A funeral march proceeding across blunt waves,
Chanting of what she was, for what could have been, but also not for her at all
But for the whorled ears of mankind to hear
For mourning wrenches more hearts than battle cries –
She will sing like a human, painfully hopeful,
Waiting for when her children will bring back what brought them
Unstop her throat, untether her heart, but not quite undo the pain –
We can learn what mistakes really are –
A chance to go backwards and hear a song for the first time
Works Cited
“Basic Tempo Markings.” Classical Music City, www.classicalmusiccity.com/search/article.php?vars=446/Basic-Tempo-Markings.html. Accessed 15 June 2018.
Denchak, Melissa. “Ocean Pollution: The Dirty Facts.” NDRC, 22 Jan. 2018, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/ocean-pollution-dirty-facts. Accessed 14 June 2018.
Ezler, S. M. “Water Mythology.” Lenntech, www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm. Accessed 15 June 2018.
Reflection
My work was meant to echo the connection that humans have with the ocean, which happens to take form as a song in this poem. I refer to the ocean as a mother figure throughout much of this because I truly believe it to be so - life grew out of the ocean and will return back to it. The philosophy that I follow very much emphasizes man’s connection to nature, and as I grew up surrounded by music (specifically western classical), I attempted to mimic the nexus between these two aspects of my life here. Climate change changes this entire dynamic. We are killing the very thing that brings us life and in so doing, we are killing ourselves - something we do not realize yet. With candy wrappers and plastic bags, we are choking out life. I think we must take every step to combat this terrible feat that we have done, and the first step is always to stop and admit that we have made a mistake. I truly do feel humanity is connected to the rhythms of this world - we just have to stop and listen closely to the song.