can the sea drown?

Hannele Luhtasela

all over
i went looking for myself:

shelf, slope, plain
wave, current, vortex

surface, abyss, pelagic bulk
hydrothermal vent, anchored ice

if i went too deep
if i stayed too long

i did it 
to find the question

if the forest is more than its trees
then surely the sea must be more than its water

its 
life
salt
nekton
plankton
siliceous ooze
skeletons and fossils
ice bergs and seamounts;

harpoons, torpedoes, cannons
sunken drilling platforms
leaking poisoned bodies
rusted warships
plastic islands
ice loss
noise
nets

i went looking for myself
all over

i did it to find 
the question

i stayed too long
i went too deep

i looked too hard and found 
that the sea can endure

drowning; but as life withers
it’s left with nothing

but wounds
and salt.

The Science

Someone once called me the sea. It seemed sweet at the time, but as the relationship deteriorated, I started thinking about the metaphor in more depth. Years ago, when teaching a course to first-year biology students, I asked them what the threats to forests are in Finland. A student answered that there are no threats, because there are so many trees. But in ecology, a monoculture of trees is not a healthy forest: a forest is a dynamic system of biotic and abiotic parts, an ecosystem of different organisms and all their interactions. And to an ecologist, so is the sea. It’s a complex, vast world that is being depleted by human actions at an incredible rate.

This poem began with a seemingly simple question: What is the sea? Every day, we learn about more of the countless organisms that live in the oceans. And every day, we disturb marine ecosystems through ocean warming, biodiversity loss, and pollution. We only know of the things we think to look for. Sometimes I wonder what all the incredible habitats, creatures, and symbioses are that we haven’t yet learned about – that we might never learn about. And sometimes I wonder what damage we’re causing that we don’t, and can’t, even realize. 

The Poet

Hannele Luhtasela (they/them) is a biologist, translator, editor, and photographer by profession, and a wanderer and awarded poet by passion. They write poetry in English and Swedish, and have a great love for science. They live in Helsinki, Finland, and one day soon they hope to publish a book of poetry. You can find some of their poetry on Instagram @poetry_by_hannes and get in touch with them through their website: http://www.luhtasela.net/.

Next poem: Chiarezza by Gianluigi Marsibilio