ENVIRONMENTAL Poem: The Year 2100, by Sarah Selena

Inky, beautiful black seas, but it is not night.
I hear the sea was once a colour,
blue or green, maybe even red?
It has been black for a century,
oil slick and usually on fire.

Summers do not go gentle
as wildfires rage, rage against the dead light.
Plumes of acrid smoke are blown across my face:
The sensuality is not lost on me.

I could cry, my tears do not betray me.
They do not betray the tormenting drouth
or the tormented thirsty.
My faithfulness ought to be commended,
the smoke in my eyes grants no one relief.

The sea ice of the Arctic is all but gone-
the peaks above the sea are
the flames rising higher and higher
Overcoming the murky depths below.
Stunning.

If summer does not go gentle,
Winter is no different-
Storms prove more energetic and unleash more water.
I hear that water once extinguished fire.
How ridiculous!
How could anyone stand to stamp such beauty?

Inky, beautiful black seas at dawn.
I hear the sea was once a colour,
No longer, with their indecision and failure.
Our future has been black for a century,
oil slick and usually on fire.