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By: Grace Zhou
Posted on: July 31, 2022
Cover Picture by: Julia Reyes
Classification: Photography
Year: 2022
The ocean lungs breathe a tale
What could have been a tale of
A massive, turquoise expanse
Ominous, yet majestic
But it has become a tale of waste
A tale of an ailing sea
Shuddering in its own slick
Gasping and wheezing
As styrofoam and polyethylene penetrates it
Churning and gnashing its teeth
At the filth and destruction soaking deep into its inner
It seethes and longs
For the ocean it was once before
A vast, pristine blanket
Glistening with infinite droplets of sapphire and azure
It is only but a distant memory
For it has become a bottomless, plasticine landscape
Saran-wrapped ocean waves
Screeching plastic bottle seagulls
Styrofoaming wind
How could the ocean ever forgive us?
How could it even bear the destruction we have caused?
How do we not understand that we are at fault?
Look up - even for a moment
Reach out your hand
Save the ocean that calls out every day