Whose ocean is it?

Tide writes, tide erases 

names older than any chart, 

who claims what it holds?

Who bears the harm?

Graves slip into sea, 

reef bones bleach under hot suns — 

we still stand and sing.

Who gets the benefits?

Far hulls drag the nets, 

Ledgers fatten in cold rooms, 

shorelines count the loss.

Who decides?

Maps drawn far from here, 

voices thinned by conference air — 

canoes know the stars.

Ocean justice definition

Justice is a tide 

returning what was taken, 

sharing all the blue.

Calling in a different future

Moana remembers 

every promise, every scar 

we choose the next verse.

Hands on vaka prow, 

law and song steering as one, 

this is whose sea: ours.