Unashamed
Waterford, VA
2024, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
I cannot lie to you of your fresh, salted aura,
Revitalizing thousands at dawn’s first light,
And neither can I lie of its departure.
Your wounds grew pus after their bludgeons,
Yet the kids still play by your shore,
And the turtle hatchlings still struggle to escape it.
Each ripple weeps and weeps.
And yet, we think till there is no time left to think,
And no options left for the
Paling coral in your dying haven,
In our dying sea.
Each wave gags and gags.
We bear the odor we cannot clean,
And wage a war we cannot fight,
Cannot breathe in,
Cannot rest when the rotting algae crackles in your feeble silence,
Taunting our gravely mistake.
I cannot see you like this.
You, like all things worldly,
yellowed like the plaque of our teeth,
And your once-fresh breath grew fetid,
If only there was a doctor I could take you to.
I wish,
Your sapphire masses would return to you,
With your admirers.
And I wish a wish for all of our kind,
That we were not human,
So your ripples would not mourn
and grieve and tug at the land every moment,
And I hope with a hope greater than hope,
There isn’t any other world,
Where we silenced your begs,
And stood, unashamed,
watching you choke.
Reflection
Reflection
I dedicated this poem to the recent Sargassum overflow in some areas of the Caribbean, especially in fishing and tourism nations like the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Although Sargassum can be beneficial to some fish that live under it, locals who depend on the sea will have increasingly hard times finding good catches. Due to climate change and over fertilizing, unprecedented amounts of sargassum worsened these conditions, creating amounts of algae visible from space, devastating Caribbean coasts. As a result, the sargasso sea grew to become the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Additionally, decomposing Sargassum on beach shores can cause many illnesses, such as headaches, airway irritation, and memory loss. This information was utterly shocking. Sadly, few organizations or individuals have recognized this issue, and efforts might not be made to clean the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. I became aware of this problem when I visited Punta Cana, where the Dominican Republic boasts amazing beaches. Unfortunately, the beach I visited was full of Sargassum, which gave birth to the inspiration for this poem. I hope this poem will help individuals recognize Sargassum as a problem, and try to do things at home such as using non-nitrogenous fertilizers in their garden, and renewable energy to power their homes.