The Heat is On
Rocklin, CA
2019, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
I’m working at my desk in the middle of the afternoon
It’s getting harder to focus, so I’ll be forced to stop soon
But it’s not that the work
That makes me irk
Rather it’s the increasing heat
That makes me sweat from my head to my feet
The most absurd thing is that
I’m sitting in my own flat
But I have no control over the temperature
Instead some giant the size of a Douglas fir
Has such a firm grasp on my thermostat
That the heat will cause me to melt into the doormat.
This hypothetical situation
Is a reality for the organisms who live where humans vacation
I’m talking about the world’s oceans
Which humans degrade without any emotions
From the sea turtles who can no longer incubate their eggs
To cold-blooded fish who cannot escape the warm water on legs
Even the lobsters have greater difficulty breathing
When humans cause the ocean to keep heating
But it’s not just the rising temperatures but also the acidity
That make some organisms lose the ability
To sustain life in their home
If the pH level dips below 7.0
Marine organisms such as coral and starfish
With calcium carbonate shells may wish
That humans had not released so much carbon dioxide
Which leaves them no place left to hide.
Ultimately the responsibility falls upon us
To do more than discuss
The future of our ocean’s conditions
But instead to decrease carbon dioxide emissions
And develop a more sustainable lifestyle
That allows marine organisms to swim in the wild
And we must continue to ask ourselves
How would we like it if someone controlled our life from a shelve?
If something else raised the temperature in our home
That made it impossible for us to roam
Would we then start to combat climate change
Or would we sit idly by and live life in a cage?
Let’s not play the role of the audience
While climate change infringes on the ocean’s tolerance.
Because each time the ocean reaches dawn
One thing is for certain: The Heat is On.
Reflection
Reflection
I have always enjoyed visiting the ocean because of its intrinsic beauty and value. I must confess, however, that my liking stemmed from self-centered feelings rather than naturalistic ones. It was not until this past school year, after I took an Advanced Placement Environmental Science class, that I realized the enormity of the ocean’s importance. I learned that it sustains most of the life on Earth and that humans have no right or justifiable reason to degrade it. Nevertheless, we continue to not only pollute the ocean but destroy the marine life that inhabit it, because of anthropogenic climate change. The title of my poem, “The Heat is On,” was inspired by the 1984 Glenn Frey song of the same title. I searched for an apt title that encompasses my comparison between the heat inside someone’s home and climate change in the ocean. Thus, I reapplied the title of this song from the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack, but added a unique touch. I regard poetry as music without the beat. Further, I structured my poem so as to create an analogy from climate change to air conditioning within a home, to convey how marine organisms experience its dire effects. Ultimately, the last stanza offers humanity hope to address the climate change dilemma, since we control the thermostat.