I Am a Tree: A Monologue on Tropical Ecotourism

This ecospiritual poem is a lyrical monologue from the perspective of a tropical tree within the landscape of rainforest ecotourism, symbolizing resistance against the commodification of nature and the expansion of capitalist tourism. Through a contemplative voice, it exposes the paradox between the promotion of “natural” destinations and the silent destruction of ecosystems beneath their surface. Framing an ecocritical and spiritual narrative rooted in the ancient Javanese–Balinese cosmology of Kahyangan, a sacred realm where divinity and nature coexist, the poem presents a decolonial critique of how the tropical environment is aestheticized and marketed. Imagery such as “a saw that doesn’t know poetry” and “breath piercing the sky” serve as metaphors of both ecological devastation and hope. This piece functions as an ecological prayer, a quiet resistance from the rainforest’s forgotten voices amidst the machinery of global capitalism.