POEM: Plastic Apocalypse

This poem is an *IA Writing Competition (creative work category) entry.

Plastic Apocalypse

Where the tide leaves in sorrow,
where the oceans weep
  beneath the sky’s wide and endless dome,
Lies a silent affliction,
a slow creeping bane
  that shrouds the Earth
  in synthetic foam.

It slithers through rivers,
  it clings to the trees,
  a cursed creation
  of humanity’s lore,
  An eternal ghost
of our desires,
  a fragment of dreams
now festering
  on every shore.

Borne on the breath
of a ravenous world,
where consumption reigns
with a ceaseless hand,
Plastic, the spectre,
arises unseen,
entwining our fate
in a synthetic strand.

Its birth was a promise
of convenience and ease,
  a future where life
  could be cased in a shell,
Yet this fragile veneer,
  so deceptively bright,
became the harbinger
  of a living hell.

In the depths of the sea
where the corals once bloomed,
now lies a desert
  of toxic remains,
The fish swim through fields
  of translucent death,
  their bellies distended
  with poisonous grains.

          The albatross soars
  over islands of waste,
where its kin fall prey
to a cruel disguise,
  Their nests
are of bottles,
their food but shards,
and with each new generation,
  the hope dies.

         The forests that once breathed
the Earth’s sweet breath
are choked by a lattice
  of threads unseen,
  The trees wear garlands
of plastic decay,
their roots entwined
with the human machine.

     Even the winds,
once pure and free,
  now carry the burden
  of man’s decree,
For every breeze
that kisses the land
  leaves behind
  a residue of misery.

            In the urban sprawl
  where the streets are alive
with the hum of progress
and ceaseless pace,
  We wonder through the gloom
of our own design,
  blind to the slow suffocation
we embrace.

Our markets are brimming
with treasures galore,
each trinket encased
in a polymer shell,
But the true cost
is hidden beneath the sheen,
a price we pay
as we march toward hell.

For every bag
  that is tossed aside,
  every straw
  that is carelessly thrown,
Adds to the mountain
  of waste we create,
  a monument
to the seeds we’ve sown.

And though the Earth
cries out in pain,
  her tears lost
in the slothful deed,
We continue to carve
  our path of despair,
indifferent
  to the warnings
we fail to heed.

       In the dark of night,
when the world is still,
the ghosts of our folly
murmur their tales,
Of creatures that lived
in harmony
  with the Earth,
  before the advent
  of plastic’s veils.

    But now those voices
are drowned
  in reactor vessels,
  and the clamour
of endless desire,
  And the world
  we once knew,
  the world that was green,
is consumed
in a microplastic pyre.

             Yet there is still time,
though the clock ticks away,
  to turn back the tide
  of our self-made fate,
  To reclaim the world
  that we’ve lost to decay,
and restore it
to a brighter state.

  But it will take more
  than a passing whim,
  more than a token
  of fleeting care,
It will take a revolution
  of the heart,
a new way of being,
a collective prayer.

      For the plastic apocalypse
is not a storm
  to wait out
  and watch,
  It is a slow
  and suffocating plague
  that brings the world
to its knees.

      But within us lies the power
to change,
  to break free
  from the bonded monomer curse,
To heal the Earth
  and ourselves,
  to find a new path,
and to live in a world
where care comes first.

             So let us rise,
let us stand as one,
  and cast off
the yoke of our plastic sin,
Let us breathe new life
  into the Earth,
  and let the healing
of the world begin.

     In the end, when the plastic is gone,
and the Earth is green
  and whole once more,
  We will look back
  on this time of change
and know
that we played a role in the cure.

         For we will have saved
ourselves from the brink,
  and given the world
  a new lease on life,
  And in doing so,
we will have found
  our redemption,
and ended
the reign of plastic’s strife.

Roger Chao is a Melbourne-based writer who is passionate about social justice. You can follow him on Twitter @rogerchao_aus.

* Full IA Writing Competition details HERE.