Paper short abstract:

Poetry can offer a pithy, visceral narrative for the human embedded in an apocalyptic setting. This paper considers poetry on ocean management and decline, as well as complex narratives of human relations with the sea in southern Africa.

Paper long abstract:

The climate change crisis is presently articulated by specialists embedded in 'serious' fields of enquiry, such as ocean governance and marine science. Artists, creatives and poets do not yet feature as 'serious' contributors to global narratives of climate change. In this paper I draw on recently (2024) published poetry to articulate and appeal to a visceral, embodied experience of human relations with the sea, experiences which appear to be universal. The presentation proposes that poetry can be a useful path to engaging the apocalyptic aspects of the climate crisis, as well as the place of humans in an unfolding story that, in many ways is beyond human control. Poetry in this regard can be narrative, source of solace and empathy. The paper considers the poetry of David Whyte, Pnina-Cabral's (2014) concept of worlding(s) and Braidotti's (2016) transmateriality, to propose the possibility of imagining diversely expressive post-apocalyptic coastal worlds, where entities such as the sea and shore relate. The aim of the poetry (and of the presentation) is to elicit a view of earthly experience as a process that exists outside of explicit human intervention. Five poems will be presented and discussed to shift the anthropogenic 'gaze' (Urry 2000) on nature.