Illustration by Christina Tran
Yann Arthus-Bertrand wants you to know
that the earth speaks to you in
shapes, colors, and metaphors.
The hearts of Voh and Hardy Reef
scream, I love you. The caravans of camels and lonely
men, moving across giant, Mauritanian
sand dunes, say, We are just a speck
in human existence, but we are minding
our own business. The rainforests of the Amazon and Honduras,
the lungs of the world seen from above,
seem unassailable and eternal.
But I can see, on the scenic I-5
in California, a queue of
cars moving in either direction,
clogging the highway like bad
cholesterol in our bodies.
Ships, trash, and micro-plastics scatter
along our coasts and beyond. I can
see them as my plane ascends, and
descends, over this inter-
connected tub of water,
not to mention the treasures –
the metals and minerals – that lay
at its bottom, waiting for the
others to scrape and abandon –
the raw, open wound of Mother Earth.
Gary Lai is a Pushcart Prize-nominated, Hong Kong-Canadian poet from Vancouver. He was the 2021 Mensa International Poetry Competition runner-up. He is also the author of Poverty and the Unequal Society in Hong Kong (Penguin Random House SEA). Check out his other ecopoetry in The Goose.
Christina Tran is a graphic designer and illustrator focused on the art of storytelling through the combination of bold imagery and conceptual thinking. As a Graphic Design for Marketing graduate from the Wilson School of Design, she has received honourable mentions and a scholarship for her student project: Northeast: A Digital Guide to Chinese-Canadian History. Her portfolio is available at christinaktran.ca, where you can see more of her work.