We Can All Understand
Windsor, CO
2020, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
The ocean is something that we can all understand,
the way the waves move from out there to the land where we stand,
the particulate molecular physics as it turns rocks into sand
irrigates land, as if with some type of master plan.
Fostering life, acting as multiplicand with no demands
except for us to take command, know it like the palm of our hand.
We are its product, every farmhand, every business man.
So with its plan manned it crashes to land, creating sand…
“And so it goes…”
Whoosh… the wave breaks…
And, yet, the ocean is subject to great and monstrous abuse.
Yes, I’m looking at you, unknowing, uncaring recluse,
the ice caps melting, rising water mirrors our growing sorrows.
But tomorrow, sadness renewed, toss more out, forfeiting reuse.
As the climate warms, the international storm calls on Zeus
to safeguard shorelines, change the atmosphere, loosening the noose
around the Ocean’s neck as it strains, in pain, asking for a truce,
its life professing abuses profuse with our emissions on the loose…
“And so it goes…”
Whoosh… the ocean breaks…
These issues do not go without effect, for it affects our home
Can you imagine, if Hamilton, headed for a new land,
would sink as NYC turned to sand beneath the water’s hand?
if the burning temperature of the water snapped our children’s chromosomes,
subliminally changing us, altering our planet’s genomes?
The world depends on these physics, the fostering of precious life,
but with environmental strife and dying reefs, do you know the price?
We need a lifeguard, CPR, we’re drowning, sweltering unnatural!
We must save this home, producing poems, proving truth off the dome…
“And so it goes…”
Whoosh… the world breaks…
As we break the ocean breaks the world breaks us, it breaks our trust,
our home breaking down around us, it seems that we must, we must…
Do something! For as Poseidon’s carousel of horses turned to corpses,
the great beasts, greater than I, greater than He, actually died.
It’s not as if pixie dust will rain down from God’s charitable trust.
Let that cosmic dust save us, for we depend on the ocean, us, smaller than dust,
Earth’s living rust, standing on its upper crust, economies nonplussed.
But we must trust, discuss, cool the seas down, so that we don’t turn home into stardust…
“And so it goes…”
Whoosh… our world breaks…
And if you don’t care about us, at least care about you.
Hands tied, huh? That’s not really true. Please, here and now, see
that all of us scream that we cannot breathe.
Not one of us, but all of us, as the breath of the sea fills our lungs,
seething, at how you ignored the need we could all see.
Please, this is not a show, you, standing up there in the marquee,
there is no guarantee of a happy ending as the ocean swallows up your debris,
And if I’m not PC, please, plan accordingly,
for eventually your lack of accountability will catch up to you, you’ll see…
“And so it goes…”
Whoosh… you break…
… but, wait, that’s not how it has to go, you know…
The water fosters ingenuity, community, between you and me.
Together, we can keep warming growth below the expected two degrees.
Of all the people that I look out and see, it’s not I who I’m inspired by:
It’s the world fighting together, racing in a clean energy grand prix,
advocating for you to save us to save the world to save the ocean, see?
They cannot save these oceans without you and me, so stop saying,
“and so it goes,”
We are the ones
in control,
the ocean looks to us and says,
“it goes so,”
Safely at home, you can still make that difference, fist over hand.
Just plan to care, fostering life, creating righteous demand.
Ask others to join you so we won’t ever be outmanned.
For the ocean is something we can all understand.
Works Cited
Miller, B., & Croft, J. (2018, October 8). Planet has only until 2030 to stem catastrophic climate change, experts warn. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/07/world/climate-change-new-ipcc-report-wxc/index.html
Miranda, L. (2015). Hamilton: an American Musical [MP3]. New York: Atlantic Records.
Vonnegut, K. (2005). Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children’s crusade: A duty-dance with death. New York: Dial Press.
Reflection
Reflection
Something about the ocean, the way it moves, building momentum until the wave crashes upon land, is captured in the flow of poetry. Ocean advocacy remains a movement that many leaders seem only mildly interested in, but the breakdown of an ocean ecosystem can lead to the breakdown of worldly and personal connections. As the stanzas build, the rhyming scheme builds in intensity, underscoring the exasperation over preventable mistakes and ignorance, eventually reaching a climax of consequences. Also, the inclusion of Kurt Vonnegut’s “and so it goes” serves as a contrast between the outpouring of emotions and flippant global response while also hinting at the vast impacts warming seas have on humanity’s survival. Many international agreements exist to prevent the rising temperatures of seas, but much of the change that happens in the world depends on the accountability and actions of individuals. My community displays concern over environmental issues, but the failure to take actionable steps means that they are no better than their words. People understand the ocean at a fundamental level, so approaching them with the also familiar rhythm and meter of spoken word seems like a successful way to reach them. It gives me hope to know that other people care about these issues about stemming the growth of climate change, and it gives me strength to know that I do not have to passively promote the “and so it goes” mentality.