School Years 7-10 Highly Commended Pollution By Louis Pitto

If the Earth had a mouth
What would she say?
Would she cough and splutter,
Choking on dark dirty air?

If the Earth had eyes
What would they see?
Would she shed heavy tears
For seas saturated with waste?

If the Earth had a body
What would she feel?
Would she wince in pain
As fires raze her forests to the ground?

Do we have ears?
To hear her cry?
Do we have eyes
To see her suffering?
Do we have a heart
To feel her pain?
Do we have hands
To make a difference?

Judge Charles Durante comment:

School Years 7-10 Highly Commended: Louis Pitto with Pollution. What is particularly appealing about this poem is its carefully balanced contrast between the earth, its mouth, eyes, body and our ears, eyes and heart. The earth is personified, a sick being coughing and spluttering, racked with pain and crying disconsolately.

This picture of our planet being ravaged by our predations is powerfully conveyed. The major question posed is: do we have the necessary sensitivity to respond generously to this cry for help? The whole ecosystem is economically depicted: the heavily polluted atmosphere, the seas choked with plastic and effluvia, the burning fires devastating whole swathes of forest. Louis has shown a rare awareness of our present predicament.

We must not let our battle against the coronavirus become an excuse to forget mother Earth. A very timely poem indeed.