Dear Future Generations: Sorry

Prince Ea

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2016

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

“Sorry”/“I’m Sorry”

In “Dear Future Generations: Sorry,” the repeated word “Sorry” and phrase “I’m sorry” are an action on the speaker’s part that adds to the poem’s larger meaning. Because this word and phrase are repeated so often throughout the poem, they transcend a mere apology and instead comment on a larger meaning at hand. This is most apparent in the poem’s conclusion when the speaker states, “Because whatever you’re fighting for: / Racism, Poverty, Feminism, Gay Rights / Or any type of Equality / It won’t matter in the least / Because if we don’t all work together to save the environment / We will be equally extinct / Sorry” (Lines 84-90). By ending the poem with this final word, “Sorry” (Line 90), the word transcends a simple, regretful apology. No longer is the speaker speaking to “future generations” (as the title suggests). The poem, in Line 65, shifts instead to speaking to the present-day reader—the current generation. The poem no longer apologizes for what was done in the past; instead, the final word apologizes for the truth that the speaker must impart: That if nothing is changed or done to save the planet, humanity will go extinct. This burden and weight rest on the current generation.

As such, the poem is an apology, but not an apology for the destruction that has already occurred. Instead, the poem is an apology for shining light on a truth that present day humanity has not confronted or has chosen to not confront. The act of repeatedly apologizing throughout the poem serves as a motif that grows into this new, larger meaning.

Fox News and Sarah Palin

The speaker references–or calls out–two specific examples that work as symbols. Beginning in Line 48, he states, “Hey Fox News, if you don’t think climate change is a threat / I dare you to interview the thousands of homeless people in Bangladesh” (Lines 48-49). This first reference is a direct address to Fox News, which is a major cable news station commonly known to be politically conservative. Similarly, a few lines later, the speaker calls out Sarah Palin when he states, “And Sarah Palin, you said you love the smell of fossil fuels / Well I urge you to talk to the kids of Beijing / Who are forced to wear pollution masks just to go to school” (Lines 53-55). Sarah Palin is an American politician who served as the 9th governor of Alaska; she is known for being conservative and ran in 2008 as the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee.

Both references serve as symbols for a larger commentary that the conservative media and Republican politicians support policies that worsen climate change, and that they tend to take a climate change denying standpoint. The speaker calls out these two references side by side to accuse conservative media and policy makers of not working for the betterment of earth and the environment. The speaker asserts that they are openly supporting the fossil fuel industry and corporations who profit from pollution, both of which use the earth’s resources without providing sustainable support to replant and regrow. In the poem, Fox News and Sarah Palin symbolize the danger of supporting unchecked capitalist policies–instead of wildlife rehabilitation and conservation–which is causing the earth to sink deeper into despair. This sentiment is illustrated directly when the speaker states, “But most of all, I’m sorry about our mindset / ‘Cause we had the nerve to call this destruction / ‘Progress’” (Lines 45-47), blaming the self-destructive desire for economic progress.

ISIS

In Line 60 the speaker references ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The speaker states, “I’m sorry that we paid so much attention to ISIS / And very little to how fast the ice is melting in the arctic” (Lines 60-61). Through alliteration, Prince Ea juxtaposes and connects “ISIS” (Line 60) with “ice is” (Line 61) in the poem, drawing the connection between the two entities. By referencing ISIS, the speaker is referencing much more than the organization itself; they are referencing the concept of war and tension in the Middle East. What ISIS symbolizes in “Dear Future Generations: Sorry” is that the American government spends more attention on warfare against other nations than on climate change–which is perhaps the most important “battle” of all.

While the specifics of ISIS and war are complicated and unrelated to the poem’s overall meaning, the reference works as a symbol illustrating the speaker’s frustration that significant time, money, and human intellect are spent on fighting other humans and nations, when in reality what is needed to alter and reverse climate change is the opposite: Not war, but union of all nations and peoples to come together and choose to work toward a healthier, livable planet. This is apparent in the final lines of the poem: “Because if we don’t all work together to save the environment / We will be equally extinct” (Lines 88-89). Ultimately, ISIS works as a symbol to illustrate that while the arctic ice is melting (while the planet is warming), instead of turning attention to this global problem, the American government is fighting a moot war–moot because if the planet becomes unlivable, war between nations will no longer matter.