More than 100 students traveled to the Capitol steps April 13 to speak about the beauty of our world through dance, poetry and strong knowledge of what is happening to our climate. Wide grins were displayed by those of us with gray hair in admiration of those young people. We were in pure awe of their poise, knowledge, gentleness alongside anger and the use of their voice to stand up for their beliefs in our democracy.
Haley Talbert was one of those talented young students. A Falmouth High School junior, Haley read two personal poems, “Making Soup in a Hurricane” and “When Land Became Fire.” Both poems used strong imagery to give witness to a life force within the destruction pointing us to the existential crisis that her generation has to face. Her first poem showed the everyday action of making soup alongside the pieces of our world flying around outside in a storm: These two actions intertwined, as do our days of cooking alongside the dismantling of our earth’s ecosystems. The second poem breathed life into the living portions of our world as fires, due to dried-out land, scoured the earth. “The world will be reduced to a blaze, when the ears that heard our cry fall deaf.”
As a past eighth grade science teacher who taught this exceptional writer, I admired her ability to use metaphor to evoke such strong emotions about these scientific experiences. Thank you for your insight, Haley. Good luck with the publishing of your first book in August. Your cry was heard by these ears. I’m proud to have known you when …Carey HotalingRetired Falmouth Middle School teacherFreeport
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