Since the beginning of written word, nature has been a recurring theme in all forms of writing, but especially in poetry. Poets such as William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Robert Frost all utilized natural and environmental themes in order to invoke feelings from the audience.
In honor of Earth Day, four CSULB poets have drawn inspiration from the environment and carefully composed a variety of poems addressing the earth as well as the current state of the planet.
Nature’s Hospitality
By: Tomisin Uwuole
nature’s my playground
the earth brings me home
branches gently beckon at me
leaves to fingertips
the sun as always, dazzles Me.
the lake offers light drips.
nature’s my playground
the earth brings me home
nature’s my playground
and earth is our home.
Rite of Spring
By: Rachel Jacobs
Let us riot
Like the
Rite of Spring
This is not
Joyous;
We hurt her
Foundation.
And spring cannot
Return amongst
Your petty war.
The flowers will
Bloom,
The trees will
Blossom.
But there is
Nothing beautiful
In this
Return of Spring.
Big Sur
By: Lillian Li
There is a certain quality of divinity amongst the trees,
The feeling of a place glorious in its own existence, untarnished and completely still.
When I sit amongst the trees I contemplate the absence of humanity:
This is the absence of humanity.
This is what it means to be unmarred by the stain of its folly
To be exalted, mighty, and alone.
I look out toward the end of the world, and I often think of the limitations of man
Of an expanse of impossibility
Of milky sea swirling around a solitary spire of rock.
I would love to stay,
And become one with the trees.
Of decay, and morning dew, and an existence unscarred
Nature is rarely so kind.
I am the Wind
By: Yoanna Kollin
I’m at the beach slowly withering away until there’s nothing left but sand and water, sand and water, sand and water. That’s all there ever was.
Maybe, I’ll see where the tide takes me.
What am I but a girl on the beach waiting.
Waiting for what? Waiting for the ocean to swallow me up and then spit me back out only to be miles away from where I was.
Waiting till the sun sets and the moon rises, and there’s only stars in the night sky, bright beautiful blissful stars. The stars I see, the stars I speak, the stars I breathe, The stars.
The stars want me to wish, but how can I wish upon a star when there’s nothing to wish, nothing to wish, nothing to wish, nothing to wish. Absolutely nothing, and when they fade away, so do I.
Just an echo on the planet, making one last
attempt to be heard, yelling as loud as my vocal range will take me, screaming for anybody out there, when nobody’s out there, nobody at all, even if they were, they wouldn’t hear, they wouldn’t see, they wouldn’t acknowledge me.
They would be on their phones, typing a tweet, sending a message, replying to a goddamn comment that they probably won’t remember the next day, look i tried, I tried to call out to you, I tried to get you to hear me, I tried too hard. And if you try to find me now, you won’t be able to, I’m gone. I am the breeze in the air, always there , yet still invisible, you had your chance, and you wasted it. But don’t fear, now you’ll hear me roaring in the sky, and I’ll be so loud that everyone will know, and that’s all I ever really wanted, for people to know me. I am the wind
The Sun’s Embrace
By: Tomisin Uwuole
At the tail end of sunset
the moon beckons at me
like a lullaby to a child
I’m spellbound in her gaze
her afterglow,
a soft reminder of the sun’s embrace,
as her aura gently caresses me till dawn.
Our Mother
By: Rachel Jacobs
Please,
Stop your
Bombs.
End her
Suffering.
Let her
Trees
Grow wild
In our
Hearts.
Eat from
Her soil
And drink
From her
Rivers.
She is
The heart.
We keep
Breaking
Her heart
With war,
Greed,
And destruction.
Love every
Beauty
She gives;
Because
The stars
And quartz
Keep losing
Their glimmer.
End her
Suffering.
Love your
Mother
Nature.
Through the personification of natural elements such as the sun or the wind, lively diction, and political references, CSULB poets Tomisin Uwuole, Rachel Jacobs, Lillian Li, and Yoanna Kollin have expressed their love for the Earth and the importance of preserving the planet.