The Last Ocean Poem by michael spangenberg

- Ab antiquo
Orcas, snow petrels
South polar skua:
Stercorarius maccormicki
Emperor penguins: 240,000
killer whales: ecotype A, B and C
crabeater seals: 204,000
Adélie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae
Antarctic minke whale
up to almost 11 m in length
ten tons in weight
precise amount unknown
krystal krill, antarctic seafish
its predators: Sperm whales
Weddell seals & colossal squid
God's antarctic Garden of Eden
men's paradise retained.

- Ad nauseam
stalemate, years of compromise
failed negotiations - deadlocks
then Perestroika and Glasnost
US-EU-China-Russia together
landmark deal, unprecedented
warning: sunset clause
protections set to expire in 35 years
world will be a different place
wildlife sustained in polar paradise
global self-restraint, protecting
1.1m sq km of Southern Ocean
ensuring fewer younger fish
will be caught, audacity of hope.

- Addendum
the Ross Sea is a deep bay
in the Southern Ocean, Earth's
last intact marine ecosystem
Southern Ocean produces
three-quarters of the nutrients
that sustain life in the rest
of the world's oceans
endless liquid icy reservoirs
repositories of bio-diversity
laboratory for study climate change

- Ad victoriam
planet's largest marine protected
area, human species' ingenuity
blending altruism and survival
at-gunpoint of looming climate
change man-made catastrophe
sparking renewed momentum
Ross Sea is just the start.