By Camille S. Campbell
Tell me, tell me,
water creatures
how you used to dwell
in the crystal clear tides
that you called home
Tell me, tell me,
how it all changed
from rainbow reefs and coves of peace
To hooks of death
and suffocating plastic
Tell me, tell me,
the corpses of infant seals
washed up on the toxic shore
your lives forgotten in garbage
drenched in tar oil and greed
Tell me, tell me,
majestic dolphins
how you died in Fukushima waters
your death hidden by the media
hoping no one would know
Tell me, tell me,
once gleeful tortoises
we grieve your demise
strangled by the jagged grips of death
your cries lost in pollution
Let us speak, be your heroes
bring back the streams of hope
the mirthful giggles of crashing waves
the lulling schools of fish
the golden sand of the beaches
It doesn’t matter who you are
you are part of everything alive
the voice of those who can’t speak
the voice of youth who dare to dream
the generation that will set the path
Reflection:
“We Are the Voice” addresses ocean creatures with the phrase “tell me, tell me” creating visual pictures of the ocean’s inhabitants who suffer by no fault of their own, but from the greed and indifference of others. Throughout the poem I showed that the harmed animals and unborn generations are just one of the few that don’t have a voice in what we do, so it’s our responsibility to speak for them. Everyone has the power to make a difference in the cause, but not enough people understand the importance they have to stop the spread of pollution. The goal of writing this poem is to empower people everywhere to speak out. “We Are the Voice” won a Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Bronze Award.