The Great Barrier Reef is Dead
New York, NY
2021, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
The Great Barrier Reef is Dead.
This is what my mother says
as she drops the groceries on the table.
This is what the TV says
on the eight o’clock news
(but not the six o’clock, nor the ten o’clock)
This is a scream
a blank
black and white statistic, stark
and silent
Sorry tomorrow, sorry yesterday,
Sorry my children, grandchildren, my roots,
my branches, my buds, my fruit
Sorry little girl, dreaming of octopi and jellyfish,
sorry little sister. Sorry we did not try to swim
until we were drowning, and some of us not even then.
Sorry coral-bright cuttlefish, sorry dazzling pacific porpoises,
sorry flickering underwater fireflies.
Sorry you shrank while we grew.
Sorry it ended this way. Sorry it did not have to.
Hope is a tiny, glowing thing that takes root
between anemones and art class
between happiness and the horizon
between the moment before you know and the moment after.
The Great Barrier Reef is dead.
I dreamt last night I could breathe underwater—
I tasted salt against my tongue, I kicked my feet and they were fins
I dreamed a vibrant world beneath the surface
the laughing seagrass kissed my toes
strands of pearls curled themselves in my hair
You are dreaming, they sang as I swam on
You are dreaming, the bubbles whispered against my skin
You are dreaming, sobbed the slow, endless tide.
You are dreaming. You are dreaming.
The Great Barrier Reef is dead
but there is no one to blame no murderer to pin
with a name—the young
are the ones, the daughters and sons who will inherit
this earth. Teach them not to
point fingers and let bitterness linger
let them be your rebirth so they don’t have to sit and watch the world fall apart.
Reset. Restart. Redirect. Connect. There’s still so much to protect.
Reflection
This work was inspired by a conversation I had a few years ago. I was telling a friend that I had always wanted to visit the Great Barrier Reef, and she interrupted me to say, as casually as you might comment on the weather, "Oh, the Great Barrier Reef is dead." At the time, I didn't know that she was talking about the coral bleaching that had destroyed enormous portions of the reef because of climate change; I only knew the sudden, crushing sorrow that washed over me at the thought of something so enormous and beautiful having been snuffed out without even a whimper. After doing more research, I was shocked to learn about the enormous scale of the destruction being done to our oceans, reefs, and coasts. I wanted to write this poem to simulate the experience that I had when I first heard about this tragedy; I want my readers to realize that the time to take action is now, and that unless we make an effort to care about our environment, the natural wonders of this world could disappear before we even realize they are in danger.