Celebrating a Young Poet: The Destruction of Nature Explored Through Her Words

Destruction of Nature —

A Young Voice Reflecting the Earth’s Cry

The natural world is changing around us every day — rising flood waters, skies darkened by pollution, forests burning, and ecosystems slowly breaking apart. Yet so often, these warnings are pushed aside until the damage feels impossible to ignore.

In her powerful poem Destruction of Nature, young poet Kniyhaaqwan McClarren from Medway, cMedway capturesaptures the emotional reality of environmental destruction through raw imagery, urgency, and reflection. Rather than simply describing climate change, the poem asks readers to imagine what it would feel like to suffocate, to cry out for help, and to be trapped by danger with no escape. Through this metaphor, the Earth itself becomes something living, vulnerable, and hurting.

The poem explores:

• pollution and environmental decay,

• rising sea levels and flooding,

• wildfires and destruction,

• human denial and inaction,

• and the fear of leaving nothing behind for future generations.

What makes this piece especially moving is its honesty. Written from a young perspective, the poem reflects the anxieties many young people carry about the future of the planet, while also reminding readers that poetry can be a powerful form of activism, expression, and awareness.

As Kniyhaaqwan explains:

“Being a young youth poet is moving. It’s something that allows you to express how you feel, express the struggles within certain situations… the art within the poem is the words that you draw up on your page.”

This blog highlights her creative voice and the importance of giving young people space to speak about the issues shaping their world. Through poetry, reflection, and emotion, Destruction of Nature reminds us that environmental change is not only scientific or political – it is deeply human too.

The question the poem leaves us with is simple but urgent:

Will we make the change before it is too late?

AI artwork – 2026

Destruction of Nature

By Kniyhaaqwan McClarren

Destruction of nature.

imagine you crying out for help.

your suffocating.

with no air around you.

but an entrapment of danger surrounding you.

how would you feel?

that’s exactly how the earth feels.

the air turning blacker and blacker

the thickness growing stronger

killing one part of nature

the levels of sea rising quicker then ever

floods arising all over the world

bringing bits and pieces of nature down with it

in the end killing one part of nature

the heat of the fire

once known as warm, now known as a furious blaze

wild flames eat away the horizon

and again killing one part of nature

people push away how much they destroy the world

pushing away how much nature is being broken down

pushing away how much damage is being created

until it becomes US

until the damage is done

until the destroying is done

until there’s nothing left

to destroy

to break

to damage

until the world is no longer

so make the change.

before it’s too late

Kniyhaaqwan McClarren, is one of Medway River Lit’s Medway Youth Laureates 2025–26