The Revolt of the Turtles¹

Editorial Introduction. — This section is devoted to poetry involving turtles, representing either reprinted previously published or new unpublished material. We encourage our readers to submit poetry or songs for consideration, either their own material or work by other authors. Poems may be submitted to Anders G.J. Rhodin, Chelonian Research Foundation, E-mail: RhodinCRF@aol.com.

Our desire is to share with our readers the beauty and wonder of turtles as expressed through the art of the poem or song. In the sense that the relationship between man and turtles is multifaceted, so too is turtle poetry. The poems we publish here will reflect that complexity, from poems of pure admiration for the creatures themselves to others reflecting the utilization of turtles and their products. Some poems will reflect man's use of the turtle for sustenance, others will stress man's need to preserve and protect turtles. Some will deal with our emotional interactions with turtles, others will treat turtles light-heartedly or with seeming disrespect, but all will hopefully help us to better understand both the human and the chelonian condition, and remind us that the turtle holds a sacred place in all our hearts.

On gray forgetful mornings like this sea turtles would gather in the shallow waters of the Gulf to discuss issues of self-presentation and related concerns like, If there were a God would he have a hard shell and a retractable head, and whether speed on land was of any importance to a good swimmer.

They knew that tourists needed to placate their children with catchy stories, and amuse themselves with various cruelties such as turning turtles over on their backs and watching their legs wriggle. So the turtles formed a committee to address

How to Live Among People Who Among Other Atrocities Want to Turn You into Soup.

The committee was also charged with wondering if God would mind a retelling of their lives, one in which sea turtles were responsible for all things right-minded and progressive, and men and women for poisoning the water.

The oldest sea turtle among them knew that whoever was in control of the stories controlled all the shoulds and should-nots.

But he wasn't interested in punishment, only ways in which power could bring about fairness and decency. And when he finished speaking in the now-memorable and ever-deepening waters of the Gulf, all the sea turtles began to chant Only Fairness, Only Decency.

Editorial Comment. — Stephen Dunn (b. 1939) is a prominent American poet who won the the National Poetry Series Prize in 1986, the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2000, and the Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2016 for this poem, The Revolt of the Turtles. He is a distinguished professor of creative writing at Richard Stockton College, New Jersey, and lives in Maryland.

I interpret this poem as a metaphor for our current ongoing political environment in the USA, continuing the theme from the last poem we published, my own A Declaration for Turtles. I wrote that poem when I was inspired by Joe Biden being named President-Elect. As I write this comment, Biden has now been President for about four months, and Democrats and progressive Americans, like the sea turtles in this poem inspired by the words of their leader, are calling out for Fairness and Decency as they follow their vision and mission to form a more perfect union and the need to recognize the rights of minorities and marginalized members of society and to promote equity and equality for all. The thought of turtles forming a committee to address the atrocities directed against their rights to survival elicits comparisons to Black Lives Matter and other movements aimed at improving social justice and human rights. May they all succeed and our world become a more Fair and Decent place for all of us to pursue our own visions of Happiness without harming or disadvantaging others, including the wealth of biodiversity that enriches all of us and our Earth.