Marshallese Poet Brings UN To Tears With Climate Change Poem & Provides Extraordinary Opportunity To ESL Teachers

Earlier this week, I had heard something about a poet bringing many attendees at the UN Climate Change conference to tears but, in the midst of a typical week of craziness, had forgotten to explore it further.

I just learned that the poem was written by a young Marshallese woman, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner.

It’s very powerful, and I’ll be adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change.

What I’m really excited about, though, is the fact she’s from the Marshall Islands and uses that as a basis for her poem. Our school, and my classes, have quite a few Pacific Islander students, especially from the Marshall Islands. This poem is going to perfect for creating a high-interest English lesson(s) for them and, I hope, generate some additional interest in learning more about the topic. You can find additional info on the Marshall Islands at The Best Sites For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

I’ve embedded two videos below. The First one is her reading her poem with imagery from The Marshall Islands. The second one is her saying it at the United Nations.

In addition, I’ve reprinted the transcript of the poem.

KATHY JETNIL-KIJINER: dear matafele peinam,

you are a seven month old sunrise of gummy smiles
you are bald as an egg and bald as the buddha
you are thighs that are thunder, shrieks that are lightning
so excited for bananas, hugs and
our morning walks along the lagoon

dear matafele peinam,

i want to tell you about that lagoon
that lazy, lounging lagoon lounging against the sunrise

men say that one day

that lagoon will devour you

they say it will gnaw at the shoreline
chew at the roots of your breadfruit trees
gulp down rows of seawalls
and crunch through your island’s shattered bones

they say you, your daughter
and your granddaughter, too
will wander rootless
with only a passport to call home

dear matafele peinam,

don’t cry

mommy promises you

no one will come and devour you

no greedy whale of a company sharking through political seas
no backwater bullying of businesses with broken morals no blindfolded
bureaucracies gonna push
this mother ocean over
the edge

no one’s drowning, baby
no one’s moving
no one’s losing their homeland
no one’s becoming a climate change refugee

or should i say
no one else

to the carteret islanders of papua new guinea
and to the taro islanders of fiji
i take this moment
to apologize to you
we are drawing the line here

because we baby are going to fight
your mommy daddy
bubu jimma your country and your president too
we will all fight

and even though there are those
hidden behind platinum titles
who like to pretend that we don’t exist
who like to pretend that the marshall islands
tuvalu
kiribati
maldives
typhoon haiyan in the philippines
floods of algeria, colombia, pakistan
and all the hurricanes, earthquakes and tidalwaves
didn’t exist

still
there are those
who see us

hands reaching out
fists raising up
banners unfurling
megaphones booming
and we are canoes blocking coal ships
we are the radiance of solar villages
we are the fresh clean soil of the farmer’s past
we are teenagers blooming petitions
we are families biking, recycling, reusing
engineers building, dreaming, designing
artists painting, dancing, writing
and we are spreading the word

and there are thousands out on the streets
marching
hand in hand
chanting for change NOW

and they’re marching for you, baby
they’re marching for us

because we deserve to do more than just
survive
we deserve
to thrive

dear matafele peinam,

you are eyes heavy
with drowsy weight
so just close those eyes
and sleep in peace

because we won’t let you down

you’ll see