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Gold Award icon
Waves
Lilli Villiot
Woodinville, WA
2018, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word

When
The waves
Waves wash upon the shore, their
Foam soft and cool, they leave
Behind their tender trails of
Sand in patterns rippling
Towards the sea.
Many years
Later the
Waves
Wash
Upon the
Shore, their
Foam soft
And fluffy
They leave
Behind the
Patterns of
Sand, you see
White bits of
Coral bleached and
Dead, left on the shore
Lives forever lost. A
Seagull calls, a sea star
Drowns, and an eel
Weaves through the
Seaweed. When waves
Wash upon the shore,
Many miles south, they
Leave behind patterns, left
On the iceberg. They leave
Behind the remains of a polar
Bear, never to hunt again. A bear
Falls through the ice, a seal swims,
And a shrimp flits through the seaweed.
Twenty years later, when the waves
Wash upon the shore, they ripple through
The streets of an abandoned city, drowned
In the blood of melted glaciers, lives forever lost,
Oil drifts in the ocean, a silent tear. Is shed,
And an
Eel swims
Through
The
Wreckage.

A black text poem arranged in a shape resembling a creature with a long body and fins, set against a white background.

Reflection

It is really sad how all of the animals who live in the ocean and Antarctica are dying and slowly going extinct because of us. I have learned how deeply this problem affects us humans. I also learned how quickly this problem is happening. I think that people really need to do something about this because we are the ones who caused it, so we are the ones who need to fix it. I think that the best way we can approach this problem is to get into the right mindset where everyone realizes and cares about this problem, and the best way to do this is to inspire them, and to put them in the shoes of all the animals.

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Waves

Congratulations winners of the 2025 Ocean Awareness Contest! View the innovative new collection of student work here!

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