Oil Spill | Teen Ink

Oil Spill

February 27, 2011
By Anonymous

Part I: Safety

The whole system checked,
but not carefully.
Done in haste
without much thought.
The consequences
not considered.

The drill spins
and burrows
deep into
the ocean floor.

Part II: Firestar

A ball of fire
shoots in the air.
Debris shoots from the firestar
hailing down into the water.

The pipe detached
oil spewing forth,
its speed uncontrolled.

Its contents
seep into the crystal water,
turning diamonds to sludge.

Part III: Eleven

Eleven workers
died that day.
Eleven men
passed away.
Eleven deaths.

Eleven.




Part IV: Black Shadow

The oil invades
the water.
The broken pipe
its source,
its core, heart.
A black shadow
covering the fresh, pure water.
Becoming the toxic, dark water.

But it does not stop there
for the shadow spreads
coating beaches.
Turning bright, yellow sand
into
black, slimy, sticky, toxic mud.

Part V: Shadowclaw

The shadow slowly
kills ocean animals,
taking its time,
no need to rush.

It grips life
in its claw
made of shadow.
It tightens its grip
around its prisoner
ever so slightly
to show them its hold
over life and death.

The water grows cold,
as though made of ice.
Life is now a candle
in a cool, lifeless breeze.
The flame
holds onto the wick,
but barely.
Death is inevitable
as the shadow
tightens its hold.
The candle flickers
in its dark embrace.

Suddenly,
the shadow closes its claw
at one single second.
And in that second
life is suffocated,
the candle
deprived of oxygen
flickers out.
Life changes state,
life is now death.

Part VI: Air

Sea birds
alight on the water
looking for fish,
but can find none.
Dip their beaks
into the water
little knowing
it is now poison.

A shadowy tendril
extends their way,
gets in their beak
and inside their body
then kills from there.

The air is now
poisoned
too.

Part VII: Six Thousand Six Hundred

About 6,600 deaths were caused
from
this mess.
We humans are responsible.
6,600 animal deaths were caused
because of
our carelessness and arrogance.
6,600,
all our doing.


Part VIII: Repenting

Impossible.
We cannot make up
for the unnecessary deaths
we caused.
We can only try to fix
the problem:
the oil spill.
Clean it up but
we cannot make up.

The author's comments:
This poem I wrote was inspired by the must resent and deadly oil spill that just occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.

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