Traffic Season
Orland Park, IL
2024, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
There is a whale in my stomach, it
circles in familiar acid, heat
quietly burning holes in its fins, stretches my skin
to my ribs, corners
my heart till it drums to the tidal rush, off-beat and—
Quickening, it steals my breath before it reaches my lungs, rams
its battered head onto my side until I hear my blood—
Thickening, the starfish
in my throat suctions its way up, leaps
out and into my sister’s jaw, leaves
cruel reminders of spring, grasps deadly—
Heat on their limbs, taunts
her as pollen glitters in beautiful—
Suffocation, the ray
in my eyes keeps them open, brushes
its barb against my lashes till they pool, overflow
with the water it clings to, desperate—
Need the window closed, lest the sun seep
its way through stained glass blame, if the ray
had fingers, I know where he’d point, he
makes use of his eyes and burns my retinas, stares me—
Awake, the pelican
in my car is incessantly awake, breaks
through my windows, in and out and in and—
Out the door they yell, she swoops, beak rife with glaring—
Red light, cars honk in violent rage, she shields her eggs, shells—
Thin fabric, thin hats, scalps singe under traffic heat, she watches her island—
Dissipate, constructions workers slowly retreat, she cries as if to—
Say, “Sorry for the delay,” They say, “The weather is out of control,” they
say, “The weather is out of control.”
Reflection
I’ve been drawn to whales since the end of 2023. As a result, I’ve written more pieces about the ocean in the past year than I can count, however, none tackled climate change, and I've always felt I've missed a key part of whales because of it. My interest in climate change was sparked by the alarming inconsistent heat and weather I began to notice in the last weeks of school. For almost two weeks it hailed and rained in my 8th hour class and stopped by 3:00 like clockwork. The streets were littered with dead cicadas and the traffic from the unprecedented weather was constant. I slept worse at night from the heat, and my older sister’s allergies were greater than they’ve ever been—I had never been affected by pollen but this year it’s smell was pungent and irritating. I researched and discovered almost all of it (among other concerning human health risks) could be linked to global warming. It made me extremely hopeless and almost weakened my faith. I began to (slightly obsessively...) add the environment to all my duaa. Poetry and the arts have always moved me in ways simple facts have not. They drive me to action rather than despair. I was inspired by the tale of Prophet Jonah and parallel stories like Moby Dick, that contain the physical and symbolic idea of being swallowed by a whale. Both were written in times where the sea was seen as larger than life and impossible to bring down. I believe as the ocean is harmed more by climate change, previously towering creatures like whales have been suppressed under our power, and subsequently, our owed protection. My goal with this piece is to highlight the parallels between the effects of climate change on individuals and on marine life. I hope to demonstrate that there is no consequence of climate change that is isolated.