We Treat Her as If She Isn’t Everything
San Jose, CA
2018, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Her skin is translucent,
A blue-green glow,
With pink and peach bones
Of coral which shine beneath.
Hair of stringy seaweed
glide down her back.
Some say she is beautiful.
I say she is useless.
I hold a lighter to her skin,
Watching her water
Boil and bubble,
Coral bones turn to white.
White like the human bone,
Be like me, want what I want.
Want the money, want the luxury.
Stop focusing on your stupid
Obsession of self growth.
I hold a razor to her leg,
Shaving away each of the
Trees that adorn her.
She needs to be smooth,
No hair in sight.
Make it rippleless,
Make way for the fishnets
And glistening cities of smog.
I hold a cigarette to her lips,
Forcing her to puff
Warm breaths of smoke.
It fills the car
Denser than cloud,
Warming the air.
Wam, hot, scalding,
Who cares about the temperature,
Who cares what it does to her,
Lines
I like the smell.
I hold her arm tight,
Pressing her sturdy against
The car door.
Her iceberg eyes weep
Tear after tear until they open
With nothing left except
My satisfaction that
Everything melted.
“Be like me, be human,
Want what I want,
Want the money,
Want the luxury,”
I say.
No -rather,
I said.
Because now when I turn
She isn’t there anymore
And so neither am I.
Reflection
Reflection
In “We Treat Her as If She Isn’t Everything,” I wanted to compare the relationship between humans and the Earth to an abusive relationship. I want readers to realize that the things we are doing to the environment are something that would be horrifying to do to another person. I don’t want to sugar coat it; I want to display the damaging effects we have on our Earth. We are the solution to stopping climate change, and the only way it can be done is through realization that money and greed doesn’t come before the safety and protection of ourselves, animals, and plants from our own actions. We are causing the death of coral reefs, places that 28% of marine fish species call home. We are causing deforestation, we are causing the melting of icebergs and permafrost. We are causing global warming and warming oceans. We are the cause of major climate change. And us humans are the only ones who can stop it.