With sorrowful sonar I’m sending out
my message of love for you
my ocean home.
I’m echo-locating your hidden unknown depths
and I’m miracle-mapping your width and your height and your fullness
except
the abundance of love that I feel
is crowded by an abundance of waste:
Human leavings carelessly clogging this vast ocean-land
as slowly, almost imperceptibly, my watery home warms
killing off corals and plankton blooms
as you steal the food out of my mouth
unknowing
ignorant fools:
you also starve yourself.
© Experimentsinfiction 2021, All Rights Reserved
Written for Earthweal
This week, Sherry is hosting at Earthweal, and she has given us the following challenge:
For this week’s challenge, speak for animals, or let the animals speak. You can write about wildlife refuges, the need for them and the challenges. Or choose an animal and write a poem in its voice as a non-human being. What is its song, what does it love or fear or need? How does the climate crisis impact it? I am waiting with both fear and anticipation to find out!
I watched David Attenborough’s ‘A Life on Our Planet’ last night, and I was shocked by the levels of biodiversity loss over the last 70 years. Unless we wake up to the mass extinction we are causing, I think we will soon enter the endgame of the human race.
Amazing post! 🙂
Thank you!
Your welcome! 🙂
👏👏👏
😀
I love this! From the sorrowful sonar to those last lines
Thank you much!
You’ve excelled your own high standards yet again. Beautiful.
Accompanied by a fabulous photo to boot.
Wouldn’t you just love to see a whale diving like that!
I certainly would! In it’s natural environment, without causing it any distress of course!
Of course. It is on my bucket list!
Ingrid, this is such a beautiful poem and the message is so powerful. Wonderful. I hope you guys are having fun in the snow.
xoxoxo
Thank you, we are. I hope all is well where you are and that you are safe and healthy!
I am glad to hear. We are ok Ingrid, thank you.
Ingrid, loving the ocean as I do, and having a special affinity with whales, your poem moved me very much. Whales are wise. I think their mournful song indicates they know we are all in peril. The tipping point is near – or past – and so little is changing. Leaders choose power and money over planetary survival. It boggles the mind. Your poem is so beautiful and sad.
😀Do you talk to the whale 🐋? What is tells about me ?
She doesn’t tell me anything about individual humans: just that we are destroying the environment!
I agree here.
#climate change
This is my third attempt to leave my comment. Sigh. Keeps disappearing. Loving the ocean and whales as I do, your poem moved me greatly. I think our tipping point is near and so little is being done. Leaders choose power and money over planetary survival. Whales are wise. No wonder their song is so sad.
Thank you, Sherry – I received the previous comment but it came through as anonymous. Sorry you had trouble I think it’s because we use different blogging platforms.
Another ace, Ingrid!
I’m particularly enjoying the phrase ‘plankton blooms’.
I may change my name…?!
xo
Thank you for that beautiful message in your beautiful poem!!!! ❤️
You speak for the whale, the whale, to me, represents all marine animals who are suffering because of our addiction to destruction. Your poem expresses this sorrow so well. The last line is truly a punch.
Not sure that the damage is “almost imperceptible” anymore. 🙁 Nice job.
The damage definitely isn’t! I meant the warming like the ocean is slowly heating up until suddenly it will become a very big problem…
I love the last two lines referring to starving yourself. This is what the selfish fools appear not to grasp and that if the ship goes down they go down with it! perceptive poignant writing
Thank you! 🐋
Ingrid, a thought-provoking poem about an often ignored and minimized problem. Speaking from the point of view of the whale is very effective! <3
Thank you, Cheryl: we need to give nature a voice!
Here is a piece that celebrates love and leaves us with empty shivers in our mouths . . . Thank you for sharing this powerful reminder, Ingrid!
Thank you for reading, Jaya. If only more people would read and think more!
It is shocking. And so hard to understand why everyone is not horrified. (K)
I guess they have the wool pulled over their eyes, or else it’s easier to look away.
Too focused on themselves…
Both beautiful and painful. 😭 My vegan lifestyle keeps animals, including fish off my plate, but I know I contribute my share of trash. It is heartbreaking to see the trash in our oceans. I am grateful for the people who dedicate their lives to cleaning up our messes, but it is a massive problem. Ingrid, I appreciate your poems that address earth issues. 🙏🏼
Thank you, Michele. I think I need to make some big lifestyle changes if I’m to ‘walk the walk’ and not just ‘talk the talk,’ but raising awareness is also important.
It is awful to think of how polluted the seas are and how all the sea creatures suffer because of that. I love whales and used to see them every winter where I used to live. I can’t think of much else to say – other than I wish we humans would wake up to what we’re doing to the planet.
So do I: such a massive collective effort is required and yet there seems to be so little collective will.
There is little will for that now but many of the younger generations are committed environmentalists. Maybe it’s our job to help and encourage them.
I would say it certainly is. Such a shame they have to fight for their future!
These are such strange times. Lets hope we can do our bit to help change the world.
My reply just disappeared! What I said was something about not giving up hope. The younger generations need our support, encouragement as well as a sense of possibility that change can happen. They will be the ones that do a lot of this work I think.
Thank you Suzanne-I got both replies. It looks like there are gremlins in the works!
I love the sibilant ‘sorrowful sonar’ and the message of love for the whale’s ocean home, and admire the way the poem pivots on the word ‘abundance’ and the contrast of love and human waste.
Powerful, Ingrid!
This is just amazing, Ingrid!
Quite the angry twist but very justified 💛