hi! this is a poem I wrote for english class that I really like. it's a slam poem, or a poem that's written to be performed aloud. although this isn't my normal poetry style I found it very fun to write and hope you enjoy <3 this is about fast fashion, which is an ongoing problem in our society. I encourage you to research more if you find it interesting. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not Just a Shirt [491 words] Clothes can say a lot about us Tell our story But they can also tell their own For some, Of mistreatment and exploitation Disregard and carelessness Fast fashion is the foul stain of our carbon footprint Dripping from our clothes And yet we continue This aiding and abetting We are oblivious to the real problems to save a few bucks These brands They see that maybe these pants are popular Or this shirt These shoes And create hundreds of them Almost instantly And oh, it’s only a few dollars! But at the cost of the quality of other people's lives Only 7 of 130 fast fashion companies pay their workers a living wage They have five times less than what they need To simply live with dignity The mere cents that they are paid are to them a single, meager crumb on a plate They work tirelessly, hands shaking, dead tired, powering through every day To put clothes on other people’s backs And yet they are forced to deal with crumbling factories Hazardous equipment A toxic atmosphere where they are beat up for speaking up Even if they finish up all their tasks their pay will never rise up It’s not okay to take advantage Of those who have less So these callous companies have covered up the issues But their voices will be heard Like a river breaking free of the dam This one shirt needs 3,000 liters of water So that you don’t see the cotton seeds woven in between the stitches This cycle is the leech that sucks the water from our oceans But this shirt? It’s so out of style! And will join the tons And tons And tons Of clothes discarded into a wastebin, tossed carelessly into a truck, dumped in the dirt, and then burned Every Single Second The air over landfills is choked with the thick smoke of burning clothes Seams charred to dust Their only crime is not being on-trend Every purchase from Zara is a fresh pile of clothes in the junkyard Each contribution to H&M is a contribution to our planet’s destruction Clicking “order” on Shein is an order for the poor workers to keep living this way This sinful system seeks to suck such substantial sums from our society Fast fashion is contaminating our water and air and land and the lives of the underprivileged Yes it is hard to buy more expensive clothes Fast fashion may be more affordable But can we really afford more destruction? If we unite we can ban this atrocious cycle If we stop this people will get what they deserve for their work, If we stop this there will be more water in our seas, If we stop this tons of perfectly good clothes won’t be thrown away When they could go to people who need it It’s time that fast fashion isn’t thrown under the rug But brought to light And stopped
