Under the Tranquil Sky
Tokyo, Japan
2024, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
The children play where the sand meets the ocean’s edge
Their laughter mingles with the tides whispering pledge
Yet lurking deep, the beast begins to rise
Aperil hidden under the tranquil sky
The untamed hound restless with might,
Unleashed, it roams the shores both day and night
With foaming frothing jaws,
And the strength of tidal surging claws
A beast under the tranquil sky
As it sniffs the wind, the scent of changing air
The uncontrolled sea, a force beyond compare
The leash thrown astray from it’s ever-growing girth
It threatens to consume this very earth
All under the tranquil sky
The young ones run, their footsteps erased
The ocean leeching towards them, playing a game of chase
The beast closing in, with claws of salt and foam
It drags them, drowns them, far from home
Under the tranquil sky
The restless sea rises with a snarl,
Its growl a warning, sharp and foul
The water snapping at the little boys feet,
The waves refusing to retreat
Under the tranquil sky
Under the tranquil sky
Parents watch with worried, furrowed brows
As the ocean defies their vows
They say they’ll build a wall, to keep it out
But walls won’t stop the beast that roams about
Under the tranquil sky
The water unchained now prowls the flooded streets
It’s hunger growls, it’s conquest far from sweet
It swallows dreams and futures one by one,
A dark eclipse under the bright burning sun
The young inherit those shores, growling and snarling
Their legacy, to fight for every current
To tame the beast, to curb it’s reckless course
To wrestle with its mighty force
They tell the beast to stop.
Stop hurting them, stop coming for us.
They all say to stop biting, stop attacking.
But no, the beast won’t stop. Why?
The beast only bites when bitten.
A peril under the tranquil sky.
Reflection
I chose to write about sea levels rising and the impact on young generations because of this. As I was born on the eastside of America near the ocean, live in Japan, and spend every summer on the beach, I was always familiar with the ocean. It always hits me when people talk about sea levels rising and seas being washed away, it means that my memories would also be washed away. I never thought of myself as a creative person. However, writing this poem made me think differently. I was thinking about metaphors and personification. With the help of my teacher, I decided to make a wild dog my consistent metaphor, writing like the uncontrolled ocean as an uncontrolled dog. In addition to the uncontrolled dog, I made this poem to be a warning. My main idea was the impact on young generations, and what they would have to live through if we kept global warming up. I added “under the tranquil sky” at the end or start of each verse. I put this there to show that too many people are looking over this very serious problem. To add my two metaphors together, it would be that people are looking over the uncontrolled ocean, pretending that everything is alright when it is not. I hope that people reading this can see that sea levels rising is a very serious problem and that they have to change their actions now. Doing this project helped me with my creativity, but also made me realize that we can not take this world for granted. We must do everything in our power to stop the climate or sea levels rising, our air being polluted, extreme weather and more.