15-year-old Vermont Youth Poet Laureate Harmony Devoe of Warren, Vermont read this poem at American Flatbread Sunday, October 6 before climate activist Bill McKibben took the stage
THANK YOU
By Harmony Belle Devoe
You
Twist the narrative
You
Are apathetic to the merit of
Those
Who have worked tirelessly
To please
You
Expect
Youth
To thank you?
To be proud?
How
Could we?
After all you have wrecked,
Messed
Up
After our planet
Is the hottest mess
It’s been
In 125,000 years
After women
Are taught to be modest
And men to hide their tears
Children layer on their fears
After the oceans
Are filled to their rising sea levels
With 199 million tons
Of your trash
Thank you take out bags
Compelling
Us
To ask
How
Could we be proud?
Telling us
That in fact
We should be mad
I am disappointed
I am not impressed with what the adults have done
You reap what they sow
Take the money and run
To your Planet B
So
We
Are left
With the burning forests
The drained dry hearts
This future before us
Ends before it starts
We are not quite too tired
For the unbegun rest
But we won’t be quiet
We will open our chests
Our voices
Will be exposed
Our choices
Will be educated
We
Will stand
Together
Our books not banned
Our burning rage continues to be fanned
And
You
Will say
“We are proud;
Thank you”
