Seawall soliloquy number two: she built a seawall

My cousin 

had a nightmare 

that we kept 

building seawalls 

higher and 

higher 

all around 

our island 

up to 

the sky 

until suddenly 

we were 

at the bottom 

of a wishing well

looking 

up 

at the world.

Copyright © 2022 by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 31, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“This was a poem written as part of a series called ‘Seawall Soliloquies,’ which is meant to be a reflection of my work as climate envoy for the Marshall Islands. Our country is focused more on adaptation, on adapting our island to protect ourselves from the rising sea level due to climate change. As such, seawalls have, inevitably, become a part of my life—these walls that our community builds in our backyards to protect ourselves from the incoming tides.”

—Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner