In honour of #World Poetry Day, the IOF community submitted some poems.
First Place – People’s Choice
Dear Ocean
I used to be fearful of untamed waves,
Every storm you carry by your swell,
Worried something so wide couldn’t be braved
A realm in hiding in every shell;
But you slowly taught me how to trust you,
Wrote a stirring tale under my fingers
On how to praise all nuances of blue,
So upon grazing water it lingers;
In your definition, azure, midnight,
Are not so blurry or so unsteady,
But carry stories of abyssal light,
Fragments of stars reborn in the deep sea,
Teaching me to weave the gaps and edges,
To shape your shadows into new pledges
—Anna Luna Rossi
Second Place – People’s Choice
Fieldwork – A Limerick
“Study seabirds” they said to me,
A ceaseless, jumbled melody,
I’m covered in feces,
Kind of hate this species,
But, at least I am by the sea.
—Megan Duchesne
First Place – Poem submitted by a Dean of Science category
Trout Sighting
O’er the creek bed
Swimming upstream
Sharp as a whistle
Fast as a steam
Engine with scales
Reflecting all light
Decked out with fins
Powerful and might
Be on her way
To an old playground
Where food is aplenty
And the water is bound
To be cold as ice
I catch her fluttering gills and I have no doubt
The passing missile
Is a rainbow trout.
—Mark MacLachlan, Dean of UBC Science pro tem
First Place – Poem submitted by a Core Staff member category
Untitled
In quiet spaces sacred utaki,
Folklore inspired imagination.
Threatened by lost biodiversity,
Mermaids of mangrove channeled tentation.
Gliding soft-edged and fusiform, smooth skinned,
From pale cream birth beautifully pristine.
In untouched coastal habitats exscind,
Let us not despair of Anthropocene.
Acts begin with communities engaged,
Conservation plans need to be brisk.
International collaborators,
Perhaps some common denominators,
Will create a future where oceans survive,
And foster a world where the dugongs thrive.
—Jennifer Douglas
Second Place – Poem submitted by a Core Staff member category
Prayer to the Sea
The clear water
As I hold my breath
The beauty of a world unknown
What I would give to see
The wonders that would capture my soul
The waves call to me
Let me stay forever, let this world be my home
—Rebecca Smith
Last Place – Poem submitted
Oh Canada
Hugged by three seas
A coastline full of splendour
Canada, we love
—Katherine Came