National Poetry Month Feature: Mama Says

April 7, 2017

“Mama Says”

by Kendi King, Grade 9, Atlanta, Georgia

Mama says, they cover
most of the world,
the garbage lands.
They are damp
muddy
littered
with trash.
Plastic and metal
boxes and wrappers
skin and bones
gills and chills.

Mama says, when she was small enough,
to be held in the palm of one hand,
there was an “ocean”
where the dumps are now.
She says,
tiny
shiny
breathing
being
scary
extraordinary
unimaginary,
creatures used to live there.

Mama talks of seasoned waves
sprinkled with salt
of sugared shores
“sand” it was called.
Colorful toys
formed castles that reached the skies
people would swim and smile and laugh,
sometimes turn red,
under the shining sun.

Cool summers,
cool breezes
cool smiles
cool people.

Now there is sludge,
sludge and
slime and
dirt and
mud. The toys are gone
the water is dry
the sand is vanished
sun tucked into the sky.

Mama says, if she could go back
start time over again
she’d stop it all
undo
what’s done.

She says, she’d go to the protests
she laughed at before.
And hold the warning signs
that our waste,
will take all oceans
away for good.

Mama says
whenever she is sad,
gazing where the dumps meet the sky
her eyes close
breaths slow
and she pretends to be bobbing,
in the waters,
with “starfish” and “dolphins”
creatures too beautiful to believe.

Mama dreams of an ocean,
destroyed before I could see.

Mama dreams of an ocean,
destroyed before I could even breathe.

Reflection

My topic is the effect of human littering and time itself on the ocean. I did not use any sources to create my poem, nor was it inspired by anything I’ve seen online. For school, I had to make a list of things I love, and choose one to make a story on how life would be different without one of them. I wrote down many things, but my top one was the ocean. My family and I go there nearly every weekend because we live so close to many beaches. Sand castles, surfing, and whale watching are all part of my childhood. It was hard to imagine life without it, but I knew I had to try to put it into words. The very real possibility that one day my kids, grandkids, or great-grandkids won’t be able to enjoy the ocean like I do because of pollution is a scary thought. That’s what inspired me to write this.