Summer, 2010

by Barbara Crooker

Dear future generations:
Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on petroleum.
—Kurt Vonnegut

The wine-dark sea was slick with oil.
Pelicans struggled in the viscous surf,
foamy waves clotted with tar balls,
an obscene green sheen.
Sea turtles lumbered ashore,
dragged darkness behind them.

Politicians kept spewing rhetoric
and lies. BP stations beckoned
with their sunflower logos,
but we knew better, saw
that the words of their CEO
didn’t match his eyes. . . .

The sun set each night
like a smear of mustard.
Earth’s black arteries
opened, and the pressed

blood of dinosaurs
flowed and flowed. . . .

And we kept the lights on;
we kept on driving our overly

large cars. The shrill
sound of drilling replaced
the cicadas, became
our new national anthem. . . .

Mary Miller Bravo, Barbara! keep poems like this one coming. We need you.

Nov 10 at 6:48pm

Marilyn Banner YES! You said it.

Nov 14 at 1:11pm

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YES! You said it.

Posted by : Marilyn Banner - Monday, November 14, 2011

Bravo, Barbara! keep poems like this one coming. We need you.

Posted by : Mary Miller - Thursday, November 10, 2011