The Ocean
A poem
There’s so much I want to compare to the ocean
But the ocean is no longer the same metaphor It even rains plastic now
Dead zones and trash islands Trapped turtles and toxic reefs
There’s so much I want to compare to the ocean
Wild and free and tossing and waves Vast and deep and full of life
Yet, the changes, the changed Hot and acidic
Bloated, slow, suffocating Crashing certainly, life, a bit
What will we do when we run out of fish? People eat sushi and don’t think about this.
Washed up, washed up Whales on the beaches
The shrinking beaches The plastic beaches
The whales insides: Grocery store bags, soda cans, tar black
Waste, upon waste We had it and we now might not
Alaska has no more ice, they say It’s all ocean now
I want to compare things to the ocean But even the ocean is swallowed up
Something more vast than it, something more immense Something darker and deeper:
It’s trash. It’s trashed.
Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. She has been recognized as a Top Writer on Medium in Poetry, Parenting, Reading, Education, Books, Racism, Feminism and Climate Change, so far.
