Renewing Coral

by Margery Parsons / February 15th, 2026

A kaleidoscopic carnival of creatures
swim, climb, clamber and crawl
through riotous pink corridors
of cities of coral:
clownfish, parrotfish,
hawksbill turtles, moray eels,
reef sharks, manta rays
crown-of-thorns starfish,
giant clams, octopi,
mantis shrimp, sea anemones,
sea slugs and millions more.
Half a billion humans
depend on these reefs
for food, livelihood, protection.
But the poison spawn of capital,
climate change, warming oceans, pollution
drive reefs to destruction,
bleaching their vibrant beauty
to spectral white skeletons─
in 30 years 90 percent of coral could be gone.
There are inspiring efforts worldwide,
scientists working with coastal communties,
repairing wounded coral,
adding new species, even growing coral in nurseries,
restoration, renewal,
reefs brought back from the dead.
These are hopeful, show the vast potential
if we remove the Jules Verne monster
at the bottom of climate catastrophe─
a system that doesn’t give a squid
for the earth or our humanity.
Coral is renewable, humans adaptable.
We must rise like waves
to our responsibility
for battles we sense in today’s wild winds
for a world bountiful and beautiful
above and below the sea.

Margery Parsons is a poet and advocate for a radically different and better world. She lives in Chicago and in addition to poetry loves music and film. Her poems have been published in Rag Blog, Poetry Pacific, Calliope, New Verse News, OccuPoetry, Rise Up Review, Haiku Universe, Madness Muse Press and Illinois Poetry Society, with a forthcoming poem in Plate of Pandemic. Read other articles by Margery.

This article was posted on Sunday, February 15th, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.