Reader Submitted Poetry

Hi alfredo. It’s Helen. I had to write a poem for school on an injustice. I did it about the mangroves. My mom told me to send it to you, so here it is.

People don’t notice the mangroves,
They are blind to the fish that swim between their roots,
To the birds that perch on their branches,
And to the clean blue water that surrounds the trees.

People don’t notice the mangroves,
They see a “wasteland” to develop,
A useless swamp to turn into a road,
A place to farm shrimp and then to abandon.

People don’t notice the mangroves,
Gone are the mangroves of Uran,
They cut down the trees and the fishing villages died,
The birds are silent and the water is dirtied,
The soil erodes and CO2 is released to poison the sky.

People should notice the mangroves,
They should protect the trees, not kill them,
Before there are no mangroves left not to notice.