The Evolution of Water
Carmel, CA
2021, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
(START: Generation X)
Step, step, flinch. The water churns endlessly.
The girl wavers, indecision tugging at the individual crevices of her brain.
The CeA nuclei accommodates. The fear gauge fills up. (+500 terror)
What is out there? She wonders.
For no one has told her what lies beneath the waters is not a monster, but a beauty.
Drink, swim, dive. This is all she knows of water. (MAX capacity reached. Please clear storage)
(Clear previous memories?) […] [NO]
She anxiously awaits the Ninth Wave.
—-
(START: Generation XX)
“Mom, can I go to the beach?” [No]
“Why?” […] (+200 Curiosity)
His mother, his father, and his grandparents refuse to let him touch the water.
“It’s dangerous,” they say. (WARNING: turn back)
“So?” He wants to find out what is out there anyways.
His relatives frown. (Restriction placed: Are you certain?) […] [YES]
—–
(END: Generation X)
She frowns as her son asks her to go to the beach. She does not understand why he wants to go.
But as she stops to ponder, she realizes something.
The Ninth Wave she had always been waiting for… had never come.
(Clear Memory entitled ‘WATER’?) [YES] (+1600 knowledge, +50 clarity.)
[NOTICE: The restriction ‘STIGMA’ has been removed]
The woman smiles. Knock, knock.
“What?” the boy grumbles.
[NOTICE: The restriction forbidding ‘WATER’ has been removed]
“Go.” The boy runs out the door.
—–
(START: Generation WORLD)
[0/3 Helpers] “I need a few helping hands over here!”
[0/1 bag] “Can I get another trash bag?”
[3/3 Helpers] “No problem!” (+250 teamwork)
[1/1 bag] “Thanks!” (+120 productivity)
The man smiles as people gather at the edge of the waves.
Ring, ring. “Hey, Mom?” [Hm?]
“Thanks for letting me go the beach that day.”
[To be continued…]
Reflection
Reflection
My personal experiences with water were not one of love and admiration, but that of fear and in some cases, dislike. When I was younger, I knew little about water in general, so I came to fear it more and more as a sort of terrifying greater entity. But as I grew older and gained more experience and knowledge in the world, I came to realize that water can be beautiful and awe-inspiring. Paintings, poems, books, and other forms of media have been used to communicate the splendor of water, and it struck me that my old ways of thinking were influenced by some stigmas surrounding water, as well as the general lack of information regarding water. These stigmas included the dangers of drowning, sharks, and other possible incidents that could occur with the involvement of water. But what younger me did not realize was that water is not at fault for such events: the water itself remains purely as a medium that others can act through and upon. And thus, this poem was born. I imagined a universe where the older generations had little knowledge of water and thus had a sense of fear around the idea of water (Generation X), and then proceeded to showcase how the generation’s lack of knowledge was passed down to their children (Generation XX). However, unlike the completely fearful Generation X, those in Generation XX (i.e., the boy) became curious as to what water truly was. And because they were allowed to expand further on their knowledge and discover for themselves what water really was, future generations were able to truly appreciate water, and inspire further generations to continue appreciating water, creating a cycle that will continue on and on. The 'Ninth Wave' that the girl was waiting for (and that never came) refers to the painting the Ninth Wave, with the title referring to "a wave of incredible size that comes after a succession of incrementally larger waves" (Wikipedia). Therefore, the wave that the girl had been waiting for was supposed to be one of a huge proportion, one that could have possibly overwhelmed her. Of course, this wave never came. The idea of the wave itself symbolizes the scale to which the girl feared the water, and because it did not come to fruition, the fear of such a wave ceased to exist.