The Message in the Bottle
Midland, Texas
2016, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
The message came to me in a bottle.
Its skin glistened and twinkled, half buried in the sand.
The rusted cap was sealed; I had it in my hands.
I shook the contents and it jiggled in my ear.
Looking around, I was the only one here.
And so I dashed off, the salt-stained ground giving way
For I had found a treasure that very day.
The message came to me in a bottle.
Sitting on the window sill, under the moonlight,
I traced the curvaceous body, gazing with plight.
Just staring with wonder while stricken with a thought,
I believe Fate has come forth to which Destiny has sought.
Coming from the horizon, a sudden wail burst out.
The sound, depressed and dying, resonated about.
The message came to me in a bottle.
Chills, shivers, and goosebumps permeated my skin.
My head snapped towards the ocean, feeling a surge within.
It wasn’t the constant waves lapping upon the shore
But the wrinkling abyss looking ready for war.
It is now. The time has come, I felt the wind.
Racing out the door and onto the sand, I saw Man’s watery sin.
The message came to me in a bottle.
There’s no longer a sapphire blue I used to see
But of black gold, of greed, a dark side of humanity.
My feet bled from the shards that glisten on the ground,
My nostrils burn from the scent of sewage all around.
Soda cans are now the homes to the little critters.
Plastic bags are now the victims of the litterers.
The message came to me in a bottle.
No, not with paper or writings or the ink of a pen,
It wasn’t rolled into a scroll, ready to be misread again.
I’ll let you in on a secret of what was in the bottle,
Nothing like treasure or the works of Aristotle.
But the bottle was filled of tiny things from the vast waters
Like sand, seashells, and petite creatures from its quarters.
The message came to me in a bottle.
But what devastated me the most when I discovered
That after shaking the glass, it uncovered
Samples of waste and debris, rubbish and trash
Hidden beneath the beauty that is now sold for cash.
It had opened my mind, made me realize
That She is asking for help, to us, us who had sent Her to her demise.
The message came to me from Her.
Maybe it was her last words as she’s slowly dying.
We used to live with Her in harmony, but now, we’re lying.
What can we do before we kill another ally for good?
Work together and come up with a plan; I won’t lose my childhood!
Rid of the poisonous plastic, fatal nets, and toxic cans,
And we can finally lay our heads to rest and wash our worn hands.
This is Her message.
Reflection
The poetry I created told a tale of a girl finding a bottle on a shore. After taking it home, she noticed that it was filled with ocean residue, which contained sand, bits of seashells, small pieces of plastic, and shards of glass. Basically, this story is stating that the ocean is at its breaking point and in order to stay alive, She (referring to the ocean) sent a message to a little girl, telling her of all the things living within the waters. My inspiration of this work was that I remembered stories of people writing messages, putting them in bottles, and then throwing them out to the ocean. That action, to me, makes me assume that they want--maybe even need--help.
Ever since I was little, I would nag at my friends, telling them to not litter because it just bugged me; it felt wrong. We need to take of our home. And the fact that people don’t have the respect to not litter, to keep on with deforestation, to spill chemical waste everywhere as well as murder the ocean, it’s really saddening. In this contest, I hope to have my voice reached that our actions are hurting someone—or something—in return for our selfishness.
Also, I do not have a bibliography because I didn’t do any research for the writing since I just had enough knowledge stored in my head to write everything. Ehe.