Poem: Sometimes‌

Sometimes I want to forget,

to close my eyes and breathe,

To go back to the bitter-sweet smell

Of the ocean,

To feel the soft, rhythmic waves

hitting against my ankles,

To listen to the resonant sound 

of crashing water and 

the cry of seagulls.

Oh how I want to forget  

the rusted skies 

chocked full of industrial smoke

and the crushed Coca-Cola cans

lying like corpses on the shore

I hold my breath in hopes

of an unexisting future

where I can sink my feet 

between the wet grains of sand

instead, I feel my feet touch

the cheap emptiness of a plastic bottle.

I feel myself sinking slowly underwater.

Oh how I so desperately want to forget

the ever-growing screams of the ocean

the greasy black liquid swirling around giant yachts

the tortured wails of dolphins wrangled in nets

the wrinkled gray withers of sea plants 

the thousands upon thousands of mangled dead life

spewing transparent fibers from their mouths 

I claw to the surface and see myself amidst a fire.

where hundreds of industrial tankers are dumping waste

The rancid, burning odor of tire rubber and plastic trash

Choking on the polluted seawater that smell of gas

and the sticky texture of tar grasping onto me

the sky decayed with the smokes of waste

My mind goes numb, splitting, ringing 

a trembling voice thinner than a wilting flower

whispering “Help me.”

Sometimes I want to forget.

to close my eyes and breathe

but it’s impossible.

stuck amongst the thousands of 

translucent bags that seem so harmless,

wrapping and twisting around my neck.

I can’t breathe.