My Admiralty Island

Poem

 For so long I was almost forgotten

Isolated, almost submerged in the Bismarck Sea

Lorengau Market, Manus Island

Like a drifting log I remain silent in the Pacific Ocean

My people were seagulls afloat

Rising sea level and tide toss me here and there

Eroding my smaller pieces in agony

Climate change was my forever enemy

I was desperate for help but no one seems to notice my plight

My people have their own problems

Their lives centers around an untapped marine resource

How can we maximize it?

Our wealth lies in the brains of children

Our investment was education

They gave me the smallest share from the men's house in Waigani

Manus island Asylum Seekers detention center.

I accepted it, though it couldn’t mend a broken fishing net

The chief in the men's house gave me a handful

But my people are two hands full

The world around me had changed over night

I felt lost coping with the speed of change

Under resourced, getting little from Waigani, I felt helpless

Just as I was about to sink with the setting sun

The big man from the big house reaches for my hands

He tells me I am going to be OK tomorrow

Showing me a paper with signatures

Saying that I will expect more people on my island

These people came with their own problems

It wasn’t what I have been crying for decades

Yesterday my people were peace loving

Today they call me a shit hole by the land down under

Effects of Climate Change

They call me my people dumb for decisions they never made

Silence them with riot police when they cry their agony out

How long will my people bear their pain?

When will the men in the big house come down to our level

Until I ceased to exist as a part of their nation

Will they mourn over their injustice on me?