Poem in response to Affordable and Clean Energy
July 2018
Forgotten
By Caroline Sun

Click.
Before you can even blink,
the lights flicker
on, illuminating your room
with a brilliant
glow.
This
is what you, and millions
of others
across the continent,
have come to
expect.
Because
that’s how easy it is for us.
We flip a switch, turn a knob,
press a button; we
forget
about the others.
The ones
who can’t just turn on the AC
to escape
the merciless sun,
or grab a cold soda from the
fridge.
The ones
who have to fight for even their
freedom,
who don’t have a car, a
phone, or even
a toilet.
The ones
who don’t have the world at their
fingertips,
whose people are sick, hungry,
dying. All because we
forgot.