Co-authored by Jared Chen
This poem is a winner of the International Bowseat Ocean Awareness Contest, receiving around 1,700 submissions from around the globe.
Bow Seat created the Ocean Awareness Contest in 2012 to teach teenagers about issues facing our local waterways and global ocean and to empower them to speak up for these places and create positive change for our planet. Each year the contest invites students to explore how human actions impact ocean health – with a focus on our roles as both problem-makers and problem-solvers – through the creative arts.
Since its launch, the contest has engaged nearly 10,000 teens from 78 countries and all 50 U.S. states, and Bow Seat has awarded nearly $290,000 in scholarships to help advance their creative talents, passion for the environment, and advocacy skills.
Click here to read the full entry on Bowseat's website.
i. australia
the explosion of carmine, salmon, and chartreuse
lost with the pass of time
from weaving green to jarring white
royal amethyst to bone,
the systematic plague of blistering heat
scorch the dancing polyps
expelled arrays of algae taint the ocean blue
never to return back to former glory
lost to the oppressor, fish swim aimlessly
homes forever destroyed, bleached to the core
forever changed
ii. canada
changes of scenery, white to blue
the ice kingdom falls to the northern sea
polar bears lost to the eternal abyss
nowhere to go they stay, stagnate
clawing, thrashing they call for food
only to be met by unforgiving waves
hungry children silently awaiting a meal
never to come
years shaved off
thousands perish into nothing
a species, gone
warm waters, a demon in disguise
iii. japan
invaders from the deep, pulsing with life,
replace absent nets of fish with gelatinous beings
heaps of jellyfish strangled in the wake of fishing boats,
warning signs of warming temperatures
kilos of natives killed with electrified swords
the wakasa bay lies awake
intruders following the kuroshio current
pillage the homes of others; the impending doom of foreigners
lost without a home to return
cripple the population
a loss of diversity
iv. california, united states
deadly change to the eyes of all
cut down scores of life
the invisible killer, surrounding all
shells of animals, gone
predator detection, gone
essential organisms, gone
strike all, none left behind
the targets, too slow to react
v. east oman
sickening, suffocating, spreading
patches on the gulf as big as mexico
swarm with green and red tides, notorious dead zones
sunlight, blocked; oxygen, depleted
blistering lungs, choked gills
climb up the food chain
from shellfish, domoic acid claws
to sharks, whales, the brains of birds
the human skull the final target
forgotten to the numerous changes,
begone the precious things of the sea.
Authors note: The title "J'accuse" uses the first letter of each of the regions visited to spell out the iconic French word, J' ACCUSE, used by writer, Emile Zola. Thus, we accuse the public for not addressing these pressing issues with full effort.
