Friday Poem #250: Not Waving, but Drowning – in Sewage

Hello, and welcome to this week’s very special Friday poem – the 250th that I have written. This week’s poem is also special because the topic was chosen as part of a competition that I ran and especially for this poem and it was chosen at random by one of my followers it turns out who won a copy of my two books the Friday poems Vol 1 and vol 2. I know I’ve written a poem every week for almost the last five years but I’m also aware that you guys have also read those poems each and every week for the last 5 years so I just want to take a moment to express my thanks to you for your support and even for just taking the time to hop on this blog and read the poems that I write. I’m always open to suggestions for phone topics so if you always wanted to suggest a topic for me to write a poem about all you’ve got to do is contact me via this blog, leave a comment after any poem, or you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and now you can even find me on tiktok! just search for w is for duck 21 on tiktok and you’ll see videos of me reciting my poems.

Anyway, onto this week’s poem as I said this subjects was suggested by one of my followers and there’s an environmental theme to this week’s poem and I hope you like it. Here’s to the next 250!

Not Waving But Drowning in Sewage

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside
Isn’t something we can sing anymore
Because sewage is being pumped along our coastline
And must ultimately wash up on our shore.

This must be one of those “benefits” we were promised
Of being freed from the EU thanks to brexit.
But at least kids at the beach can now legitimately say
“Your sandcastle really looks shit!”.

Our planet keeps on taking a battering
While our leaders add their methane to the mix.
Yes, they commit to making some changes
But they’ll take up to 50 years to fix.

Meanwhile, in the time it takes to read this poem
Roughly 1500 trees have been cut down
And our seas got an additional 11,000 cubic metres
Of our effluent mess oh so brown.

This isn’t a problem that’s approaching:
We’ve been killing this planet for years.
But we don’t seem to see it or hear it
Possibly because the pollution is now up to our ears.

So, we’ll sort this all out – in a minute
We’ll do it alright? – later on.
Governments promise they’ll do what they must
But their conviction doesn’t feel very strong

So those of us here without power
Wait for rescue as the tide comes in
While those who could save us smile, wave and gesture
As our window of opportunity gets thin.

And the Irony is in no way lost on me
Using the sea as a metaphor I acknowledge
Might not be the most subtle, but you have to admit
We’re not waving but drowning – in sewage.