Ode to the plastic ocean📘

Published at https://spillwords.com/ode-to-the-plastic-ocean/

Recited at Poetry Slam Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2019

Poem, 15 September 2018.

I am a Manta ray
Forty years of swimming these bays
Now my diet has far more variety
Not just multi-coloured fish
But lots and lots of plastic.

I am a green sea turtle
Twenty years of floating along
Nibbling seaweed and singing my song
And now I look so fancy and gorgeous
With my new fishing rope accessories.

I am a clown fish
Yes, those stripy Nemos you see in the aquarium
Life in the ocean is not so boring anymore
Now I can swim and hang out
With my bobbing bottle and drinking straw friends.

I am a humpback whale
Fifty and still cruising the seas
Now why is it that I feel so heavy and lethargic?
Could it be the heaps of plastic
Sloshing around inside of me?

I am a bottlenose dolphin
I am still young at heart
I love to leap and play
Through and around the plastic hoops and bags
Of my constantly-refitted ocean gym.

I am a young octopus
In the prime of my life looking for new company
I have big googly eyes and look real cool
Especially now with my new clothing
Of baby diapers and plastic festoons.

I am a Homo sapien
Fit and tanned and strong
I love to snorkel and dive in the oceans
And see the much-enhanced coral reefs
Teeming with luminous fish
And lots and lots of pretty plastic.