Cape Fear River, North Carolina
Our National Forests,
Earth’s forests,
Are just outside our cities,
Rivers and hills
And mountains rising up
Like they have forever,
Despite tunnels,
And traffic,
And high wires,
And cellphone towers
Running through them.
Earth still gives
As she always has,
Her dark patches of trees
Calling us into her arms
To soak in her languid waters
And breathe deep,
Her still airs quieting our souls
In a way that ringing colonial axes
For cabins and axels and population growth
Could not defeat.
But Drilling,
But Frackers Fracking.
You would mow her down
With ear splitting sounds,
And rape her
Over and over and over again
Until the puncture wounds are too great to bear,
You would force her,
Inject her,
Oozing with your toxic poisons
That can’t be washed away
Until she is broken,
But still giving,
You would take her beauty
To fuel your manhood
Until she has given it all away.
And the sun and wind,
The sun and the wind would still be free.
In response to Senator Ted Cruz–National Forests are not for sale
Karen K. L. Espaniola July 11, 2014
