Wave Energy

Saadiah Freeman

They say wave energy could power continents
if we could capture it. Could harness the great swelling body of the sea
and make it do our bidding. Serve our needs,
fulfil our wants, world without end, amen.

But much as I would like to see an end 
to this bad habit we’ve picked up of digging, poking, worrying the skin
of planet earth to soothe our fretful fingers,
I still say
I’m sick and tired of this taming talk,
this language of entrapment, words that try 
to tie and pen every damn thing they touch. 

Haven’t we scarred the earth enough?
Is it too much to ask for some respect, 
or – dare I say – humility before the mighty grace
of the deep ocean? Anyone who goes to sea 
in little ships or rides the surf 
or swims the kelp-strewn fringes of a bay
knows that the ocean does not serve our needs. 
That we serve at its pleasure. That our leisure 
and our comfort are a function of its mood
or, better said, an afterthought. 
We say it is capricious when the truth is that its business 
is no whim, no entertainment. It is life. And death.
The systems that sustain us all. This is the ocean’s care, its sacred trust.

And so: back to the waves.
Not tamed, not trapped, but power freely given.
Freely shared. Or maybe loaned,
for power is not made to hoard and own
but to exchange. To use. Perhaps to patch
the wounds we made, to soothe each bruise, 
to learn again the strength and tenderness 
of our own hands. Perhaps we can.

I think perhaps we must.

The Science

This poem explores the emerging technology of wave energy generation turbines and the implications that this technology may have, both for the energy transition and also for our relationship with the ocean. It considers the ways in which nature (in this case ocean waves) is often objectified and instrumentalized in scientific and public discourse, and suggests ways to move beyond that perspective.

The Poet

Saadiah Freeman (she/they) is an Australian poet and postgraduate student living on Gadigal Country in Sydney, Australia. A lover of the ocean, her research explores ways in which humans and non-human beings collaborate on large and small acts of resilience and resistance, particularly in the marine environment.

Next poem: Waves in stone by Lucas George Wendt