Reflection

From a young age, poetry has been a significant part of my life, and I remember voraciously reading works of great writers and poets. I first discovered Craig Santos Perez when searching for poetry about climate change and the environment. When I stumbled onto his work, I was mesmerized by his poem “Love in the Time of Climate Change,” in which he writes a love poem to Earth, detailing the admiration he has for Mother Nature for her seas and biodiversity and condemns those who extract her resources. I decided to write a poem about the power Santos’s poetry brought for me, and the future for eco-poets that Santos would support. Many times, Santos writes for or from the perspective of nature. In response, I decided to write a “letter” from the perspective of humans ignorant of the changing climate to Santos. I also referenced one of Santos’s other poems, “Halloween in the Anthropocene, 2015,” which details the harmful effects that climate change has on wildlife and other humans. I decided to include a mention of it, which I believe is a significant part of the awareness this poet brings. In the future, I hope to create more poetry similar to Craig Santos Perez's and urge others to discover eco-poetry for themselves.